❓ A Western Australian Parliamentary Question on Notice regarding the Coroner's Court, seeking data on case finalisation times and backlogs. The Attorney General provides detailed statistics and context regarding delays.
AnsweredQoN 2881Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
(1) What is the current average time to trial for a Coroner’s Court case?
(2) What is the current number of unfinalised Coroner’s Court cases?
(3) What was the number of unfinalised cases at the end of the following financial years:
(a) 2006–2007;
(b) 2007–2008; and
(c) 2008–2009?
(4) What is the longest length of time that a case has remained unfinalised?
(5) How many cases have remained unfinalised for more than:
(a) 12 months;
(b) 18 months;
(c) 24 months;
(d) 30 months; and
(e) 36 months?
(6) Will the State Coroner abandon any outstanding public inquests; and
(a) if yes, how many inquests will be abandoned?
(2) What is the current number of unfinalised Coroner’s Court cases?
(3) What was the number of unfinalised cases at the end of the following financial years:
(a) 2006–2007;
(b) 2007–2008; and
(c) 2008–2009?
(4) What is the longest length of time that a case has remained unfinalised?
(5) How many cases have remained unfinalised for more than:
(a) 12 months;
(b) 18 months;
(c) 24 months;
(d) 30 months; and
(e) 36 months?
(6) Will the State Coroner abandon any outstanding public inquests; and
(a) if yes, how many inquests will be abandoned?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
16 June 2010
Response time
41 days
(1) As at 27 May 2010 the time to trial was 99 weeks (against a target of 128 weeks).
(2) As at 27 May 2010 this figure stands at 1893.
(3) (a) 5,264;
(b) 3,662; and
(c) 2,256.
Figures for 2006/07 and 2007/08 indicate the number of files not closed on the Coroner's Court's database. The Court is unable to determine the exact number of the pending files in those years. The 2008/09 and current year figures reflect the number of pending files.
(4) 117 months.
(5) (a) 12-18 months 214;
(b) 18-24 months 152;
(c) 24-30 months 77;
(d) 30-36 months 60; and
(e) 36 months or more 199.
With respect to the figures above, they must be read in the context of the fact that many matters which may prolong the time to finalisation are outside the control of the Coroner. These regularly include WA Police investigations, PathWest toxicology reports and post mortems and WorkSafe investigations.
(6) All mandated inquest cases will be proceeded with. A review of cases on hand by the Coroner has identified about 10 old cases where the perceived benefits of holding an inquest have changed since the death occurred. For example, changes in procedures or legislation have occurred since the death, consequently it may now not be necessary to hold an inquest.
(a) Refer to the response to Question 6.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
(2) As at 27 May 2010 this figure stands at 1893.
(3) (a) 5,264;
(b) 3,662; and
(c) 2,256.
Figures for 2006/07 and 2007/08 indicate the number of files not closed on the Coroner's Court's database. The Court is unable to determine the exact number of the pending files in those years. The 2008/09 and current year figures reflect the number of pending files.
(4) 117 months.
(5) (a) 12-18 months 214;
(b) 18-24 months 152;
(c) 24-30 months 77;
(d) 30-36 months 60; and
(e) 36 months or more 199.
With respect to the figures above, they must be read in the context of the fact that many matters which may prolong the time to finalisation are outside the control of the Coroner. These regularly include WA Police investigations, PathWest toxicology reports and post mortems and WorkSafe investigations.
(6) All mandated inquest cases will be proceeded with. A review of cases on hand by the Coroner has identified about 10 old cases where the perceived benefits of holding an inquest have changed since the death occurred. For example, changes in procedures or legislation have occurred since the death, consequently it may now not be necessary to hold an inquest.
(a) Refer to the response to Question 6.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.