A WA parliamentary question regarding the publication of Coroner's Court inquest reports on the website. The Attorney General, through a representative, declines to publish anonymised reports due to identifiability concerns, offering an application process instead.

AnsweredQoN 424Legislative Council
Asked
29 June 2010
Portfolio
parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General

QuestionView source ↗

CORONER’S COURT — INQUEST REPORT WEBSITE PUBLICATION
I refer to the Family Court’s publication of anonymised judgement on its website. (1) Is the Attorney General aware that the Coroner’s Court of Western Australia does not currently publish inquest reports on its website? (2) Subject to section 49 of the Coroners Act 1996, will the Attorney General arrange for those reports to be published on the website, if appropriate, in anonymised form? (3) If yes to (2), when? (4) If no to (2), why not? Hon HELEN MORTON

AnswerView source ↗

I provide the following answer on behalf of the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General. I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) Yes. The Coroner’s Court used to publish findings on the website. However, this facility was suspended following complaints from families. In summary, families were concerned that details of the death of their loved ones were publicly available and open to voyeurism. (2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
(1) Is the Attorney General aware that the Coroner’s Court of Western Australia does not currently publish inquest reports on its website? (2) Subject to section 49 of the Coroners Act 1996, will the Attorney General arrange for those reports to be published on the website, if appropriate, in anonymised form? (3) If yes to (2), when? (4) If no to (2), why not? Hon HELEN MORTON replied: I provide the following answer on behalf of the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General. I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) Yes. The Coroner’s Court used to publish findings on the website. However, this facility was suspended following complaints from families. In summary, families were concerned that details of the death of their loved ones were publicly available and open to voyeurism. (2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
(2) Subject to section 49 of the Coroners Act 1996, will the Attorney General arrange for those reports to be published on the website, if appropriate, in anonymised form? (3) If yes to (2), when? (4) If no to (2), why not? Hon HELEN MORTON replied: I provide the following answer on behalf of the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General. I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) Yes. The Coroner’s Court used to publish findings on the website. However, this facility was suspended following complaints from families. In summary, families were concerned that details of the death of their loved ones were publicly available and open to voyeurism. (2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
(3) If yes to (2), when? (4) If no to (2), why not? Hon HELEN MORTON replied: I provide the following answer on behalf of the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General. I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) Yes. The Coroner’s Court used to publish findings on the website. However, this facility was suspended following complaints from families. In summary, families were concerned that details of the death of their loved ones were publicly available and open to voyeurism. (2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
(4) If no to (2), why not? Hon HELEN MORTON replied: I provide the following answer on behalf of the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General. I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) Yes. The Coroner’s Court used to publish findings on the website. However, this facility was suspended following complaints from families. In summary, families were concerned that details of the death of their loved ones were publicly available and open to voyeurism. (2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
Hon HELEN MORTON replied: I provide the following answer on behalf of the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General. I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) Yes. The Coroner’s Court used to publish findings on the website. However, this facility was suspended following complaints from families. In summary, families were concerned that details of the death of their loved ones were publicly available and open to voyeurism. (2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
I provide the following answer on behalf of the parliamentary secretary representing the Attorney General. I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) Yes. The Coroner’s Court used to publish findings on the website. However, this facility was suspended following complaints from families. In summary, families were concerned that details of the death of their loved ones were publicly available and open to voyeurism. (2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1) Yes. The Coroner’s Court used to publish findings on the website. However, this facility was suspended following complaints from families. In summary, families were concerned that details of the death of their loved ones were publicly available and open to voyeurism. (2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
(1) Yes. The Coroner’s Court used to publish findings on the website. However, this facility was suspended following complaints from families. In summary, families were concerned that details of the death of their loved ones were publicly available and open to voyeurism. (2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
(2) No. (3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
(3) Not applicable. (4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.
(4) The provision of anonymised findings is no guarantee that the deceased will not be identified. Almost every death has its own unique set of circumstances from which it is relatively easy to identify the deceased. Findings are made publicly available following the inquest and, to facilitate bone fide requests thereafter, the Coroner’s Court will make them available by application via its website. An online application form will be added to the website by the end of August 2010. Once an application has been approved, the finding will be sent electronically to the applicant.

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