Salesa JennyCORONERS AMENDMENT BILLFirst ReadingHon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO (Minister for Courts): I present a legislative statement on the Coroner's Amendment Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ian McKelvie): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and will be found on the Parliament website.Hon AUPITO WILLIAM SIO: Mr Speaker thank you. I move That the Coroners Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Justice Committee to consider the bill.The coronial system is currently under pressure. Coroners are struggling to keep pace with the number of cases being accepted into the coronial jurisdiction which has resulted in an increasing active caseload and an increase in the average time taken to conclude coronial investigations. There are several reasons for these increases. Firstly an increasing proportion of deaths referred to the coroner are being accepted into jurisdiction—over half of which are ultimately found to be from natural causes. Many of these deaths do not need to be investigated by the coroner. The role of the coroner is to investigate deaths that are unnatural including deaths that appear to be sudden violent or unexpected. Secondly there have been periods in recent years when the coronial bench has not been operating at full capacity due to vacancies. Most significantly families and whānau who find themselves having to deal with the coronial system are experiencing significant distress from the increasing length of time they spend waiting to receive coronial findings and I do want to acknowledge them.This bill aims to reduce this distress by making some targeted amendments to the Coroners Act. These targeted amendments are designed to reduce the time it takes for certain types of cases to move through the coronial process and to free up the coroners' time to work on reducing the number of active coronial cases. In doing this the bill aims to facilitate better access to justice for families and whānau. The bill will also help to ensure that public interest in the proper and timely understanding of the causes and circumstances of death is well served. Earlier this year we passed a bill to increase the statutory cap on the maximum number of coroners from 20 to 22. It was clear through this process that there were strong interests across this House in improving the coronial system particularly for the benefit of families and whānau and I want to acknowledge the parties across the House.The most significant change in the bill is the establishment of the new associate coroner position. Associate coroners will be judicial officers and will be able to undertake the more straightforward functions powers and duties currently performed or exercised by coroners while still enabling coroners to perform or exercise them. This will help to relieve the pressure on coroners by freeing up coroners' time enabling coroners to focus on more complex cases particularly those requiring inquests. As judicial officers associate coroners will be appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Attorney-General given after consultation with the Minister of Justice. Associate coroners will be appointed for a fixed term of up to five years with the ability to be reappointed. Like coroners the remuneration of associate coroners will be determined by the Remuneration Authority. Associate coroners will need a minimum of five years post-admission experience as a barrister or solicitor—the same as coroners.The bill also makes three other amendments to the Coroners Act which I will briefly outline. Firstly the bill clarifies that coroners can record a cause of death as unascertained natural causes" if the coroner considers that the death is from natural causes and no further investigation is required. This amendment largely reflects current practice and will where appropriate enable families and whānau to receive a coroner's findings sooner potentially within 48 hours after the death.Secondly the bill provides coroners with the sole discretion to decide whether a coronial inquiry should also include an inquest. A coronial inquiry is either held on the papers—that is held in chambers—or held in open court in the form of an inquest. In each case the coroner decides which method is most appropriate under the Coroners Act. Currently if anyone wishes to give evidence or cross-examine any witness then the coroner must hold an inquest regardless of whether the coroner considers it necessary. This amendment will prevent inquests from taking place where having regard to the statutory criteria in the Coroners Act the coroner considers a hearing in chambers is appropriate and an inquest is not needed. This would help to ensure that appropriate cases are progressed through the system more efficiently.Thirdly the bill will enable coroners to issue written findings stating the cause of death only and not the circumstances of death if the coroner considers that there is no public interest in making findings as to the broader circumstances in which the death occurred. To clarify the cause of death is how someone died whereas the circumstances are the broader context in which the death took place. This amendment will allow certain cases to be concluded more quickly ensuring families and whānau receive a coroner's findings sooner freeing up coroners to spend more time on more complex cases.The targeted amendments in this bill will go some way to support coronial cases to be dealt with as promptly and efficiently as possible while not adversely affecting the quality of coronial findings and the judicial independence of coroners. In particular the amendments will help to enable certain cases in the system to be progressed more efficiently. This combined with the introduction of associate coroners will also help to relieve the pressure on coroners by freeing up their time to enable them to focus on more complex cases.I must stress that this bill is just the first step to improve the legislative framework for the coronial system. It is also part of wider work going on to improve the coronial system—this includes appointing clinical advisers to assist coroners and a project to better integrate tikanga Māori into coronial processes. More must be done and will be done to improve access to justice for families and whānau. That is why I am committed to a wider longer-term review of the Coroners Act and the coronial system. The scope and timing of this review are still to be determined by myself and the Minister of Justice but it is my expectation that it will involve engagement with a broad range of interested parties. Families and whānau will be at the heart of the engagement. Because changes resulting from this review could take some time to progress this bill presents an opportunity to make some targeted changes relatively quickly. Any changes that we can make now however small will benefit grieving families and whānau.I look forward to the Justice Committee's consideration of the bill and I commend this bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that the motion be agreed to."