Coroners Act 2008

Unless otherwise ordered by the coroner, the principal registrar must—

provide the senior next of kin of a deceased person written notice, in accordance with the rules, specifying—

that reports have been given to a coroner as a result of a medical examination performed on the deceased; and

that the senior next of kin may request copies of those reports; and

the manner in which the senior next of kin may request copies of those reports; and

if an inquest is to be held, provide an interested party with a copy of the coronial brief.

A coroner may also release a document to—

an interested party if the coroner is satisfied that the party has a sufficient interest in the document;

a statutory body if the coroner is satisfied that the release of the document is required to allow the statutory body to exercise a statutory function;

a police officer for law enforcement purposes;

a person who is conducting research if the coroner is satisfied that the research has been approved by an appropriate human research ethics committee;

any person if the coroner is satisfied that the release is in the public interest;

a person specified in the rules as being a person to whom documents may be released.

A coroner may impose conditions on the release of any document under subsection (1) or (2).

A person to whom a document has been released under this section must comply with any condition placed on that release.

A person must not knowingly or recklessly fail to comply with any condition placed on the release of a document under this section.

A document relating to the investigation of a death or a fire that is held by a coroner must not be released by a coroner except as permitted under this Act or any other law.

In this section, coronial brief means a brief of evidence that is prepared for a coronial investigation and contains the following (if available)—

a statement of identification by an appropriate person;

any reports given to a coroner as a result of a medical examination;

reports and statements that the coroner investigating the death or fire believes are relevant to a coronial investigation;

other evidentiary material that the coroner investigating the death or fire believes is relevant to the coronial investigation;

any material prescribed by the rules or the regulations.

For the purposes of subsection (7), a coronial brief does not include any part of a medical file that the coroner considers to be irrelevant to the coronial investigation.