April 04, 2023
Extra resources to speed up coroners
Courts Minister Rino Tirikatene says appointing assistant coroners will speed up the work of coroners.
The Coroners Amendment Bill making the change received unanimous support in Parliament this week.
He says it’s about ensuring whanau dealing with an unexpected death are given timely access to justice.
“There are significant delays going through the coronial process so that just adds to the grief and the stress on whanau so the purpose of the Bill was to put in additional resources, create new roles, create specialist roles that can help smooth the flow of cases through the coronial system and then ultimately bring that closure which whanau often seek through the coronial process,” Mr Tirikatene says.