CORONIAL INQUESTS —
REQUESTS
823. Hon PETER COLLIER to
the Leader of the House representing the Attorney General:
I ask this question on behalf of Hon
Michael Mischin, who is on urgent parliamentary business.
I refer to the requests to the
Attorney General to direct the State Coroner to hold inquests into the killing
of the family of Aaron Cockman on 11 May 2018, first requested by Mr Cockman on
21 May 2020, and the suicide of school student Cohen Fink on 4 June 2019, first
requested by his family on 21 February 2020. I ask the following questions in
respect of each request.
(1) Will the Attorney General direct
the coroner to hold an inquest?
(2) When did he so decide?
(3) Has he informed the applicants
of his decision; and, if not, why not?
(4) Has he provided the applicants with detailed
reasons for his decision; and, if so, when; and, if not, why not?
(5) If he has not yet decided
whether to direct the coroner, why not and when will he do so?
(6) If he has not
yet decided but is of a mind to refuse their request, will he let the
applicants know in advance of deciding and give them the opportunity to
persuade him to make a direction; and, if not, why not?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) I have sought advice on both
matters and am currently awaiting that advice.
(2) Not applicable. See response to
(1).
(3)–(4) No. See response to
(1).
(5) See response to (1). I will make a decision in
each matter after receiving and considering the respective advice.
(6) The
applicants have already provided arguments in support of making their
respective requests. If the applicants have
further information they wish to bring to the Attorney General's
attention, they are welcome to do so.