Terms used
3 Terms used
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
agency has the same meaning as it has for the purposes of the Public Sector Management Act 1994;
coroner includes the State Coroner and the Deputy State Coroner;
coroner’s investigator means a person referred to in section 14;
coroner’s registrar means a person referred to in section 12;
court means the Coroner’s Court of Western Australia established under section 5;
death includes suspected death;
Deputy State Coroner means the person appointed under section 7;
Director of Public Prosecutions means the Director of Public Prosecutions appointed under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1991;
doctor means a person registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Western Australia) in the medical profession;
guidelines means guidelines issued under section 58;
inquest means a formal hearing by the court;
investigation includes an inquest;
pathologist means a doctor with a prescribed qualification in pathology, or a doctor recognized by a prescribed professional body as a pathologist;
person held in care means —
a person under, or escaping from, the control, care or custody of —
the CEO as defined in section 3 of the Children and Community Services Act 2004; or
the Chief Executive Officer of the department of the Public Service principally assisting the Minister administering the Prisons Act 1981 in its administration; or
a member of the Police Force;
or
a person for whom the CEO as defined in the Court Security and Custodial Services Act 1999 is responsible under section 10, 13, 15 or 16 of that Act, whether that person is at a custodial place as defined in that Act, is being moved between custodial places or escapes, or becomes absent, from a custodial place or during movement between custodial places; or
a person admitted to a centre under the Alcohol and Other Drugs Act 1974; or
a resident as defined in the Declared Places (Mental Impairment) Act 2015 section 3; or
a person —
who is an involuntary patient under the Mental Health Act 2014; or
who is apprehended or detained under that Act; or
who is absent without leave from a hospital or other place under section 97 of that Act;
or
a person detained under the Young Offenders Act 1994; or
a person subject to a hospital order under the Criminal Law (Mental Impairment) Act 2023; or
a person subject to a supervision order under the Criminal Law (Mental Impairment) Act 2023;
post mortem examination means an examination of the body of a person who has died, for the purpose of investigating the death;
prescribed means prescribed by regulation;
reportable death means a Western Australian death —
that appears to have been unexpected, unnatural or violent or to have resulted, directly or indirectly, from injury; or
that occurs during an anaesthetic; or
that occurs as a result of an anaesthetic and is not due to natural causes; or
that occurs in prescribed circumstances; or
of a person who immediately before death was a person held in care; or
that appears to have been caused or contributed to while the person was held in care; or
that appears to have been caused or contributed to by any action of a member of the Police Force; or
of a person whose identity is unknown; or
that occurs in Western Australia where the cause of death has not been certified under section 44 of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998; or
that occurred outside Western Australia where the cause of death is not certified to by a person who, under the law in force in that place, is a legally qualified medical practitioner;
senior next of kin has the meaning given under section 37(5);
State Coroner means the person appointed under section 6;
tissue includes an organ or part of the human body or a substance extracted from, or from a part of, the human body;
Western Australian death means a death —
that occurred in Western Australia; or
where the body is in Western Australia; or
the cause of which occurred in Western Australia; or
of a person who was ordinarily residing in Western Australia at the time of death; or
of a person who, at the time of death, was in an industry to and in relation to which the Industrial Relations Act 1979 applies due to the operation of section 3 of that Act.
[Section 3 amended: No. 40 of 1998 s. 8(2); No. 47 of 1999 s. 9; No. 8 of 2000 s. 3; No. 15 of 2003 s. 4; No. 34 of 2004 Sch. 2 cl. 6; No. 59 of 2004 s. 76; No. 22 of 2008 Sch. 3 cl. 10; No. 35 of 2010 s. 46; No. 25 of 2014 s. 42; No. 3 of 2015 s. 15; No. 4 of 2015 s. 83; No. 10 of 2023 s. 290 and 410.]
This provision refers to the regulations (prescribed by regulation
, prescribed circumstances
). Made under this Act:
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