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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-11-14 Daily Xml
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Whitford, Mr G.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:23): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Attorney-General about a cold case involving the death of a police officer.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: In September last year, I raised a matter in this place about a national television program, which looked into the death of Inspector Geoffrey Whitford at Myponga in the 1980s and linked it to possible police corruption. The family of Mr Whitford have for decades been searching for answers about his mysterious death, which at the time was declared a suicide. Following the program, a barrister acting for the Whitford family filed a 363-page submission on 28 September 2022 to the office of the Coroner, seeking a thorough investigation into his death.

To date, I have not had a formal reply from the Attorney-General to my question, while the family has not heard from the Coroner or been privy to any completed investigation that was commenced by South Australia Police. My question to the Attorney-General is: what is happening with this matter, and will he contact the Coroner and SAPOL to see whether a report has been provided to the Coroner, and an inquest, as requested by the family, will be conducted?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:24): I thank the honourable member for his question and certainly I will do that and bring back an answer for him. I have found, when the honourable member has had questions in the past that have related to the Coroner's office or when members of the public have sought advice or guidance from my office, that the Coroner's office has been very helpful in providing responses.

It doesn't mean that the response necessarily is the response hoped for by family members or that there is an answer immediately, but certainly I will inquire from the Coroner's office about the state of that particular request for an inquest and where it is up to and bring back a reply for the honourable member.

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