CORONERS ACT 1980 - SECT 44 Power of coroner to clear court and prohibit publication of matter relating to inquest or inquiry

This legislation has been repealed.

CORONERS ACT 1980 - SECT 44

44 Power of coroner to clear court and prohibit publication of matter relating to inquest or inquiry

(1) A coroner holding an inquest or inquiry may order:

(a) any witness or all of the witnesses to go and remain outside the room or building in which the inquest or inquiry is being held until required to give evidence, or

(b) that any evidence given at the inquest or inquiry being held by the coroner be not published.

(2) Where, after a coroner receives a report or is informed of a death or suspected death under section 12A or during the course of an inquest, it appears to the coroner that the death or suspected death may have been self inflicted, the coroner may order that no report, or no further report, of the proceedings (or any specified part of the proceedings) be published until after the coroner has made his or her findings or, in the case of an inquest held before a jury, the jury has brought in its verdict.

(2A) An order under subsection (2) may also prohibit the publication of any matter (including the publication of any photograph or other pictorial representation) that identifies any particular person:

(a) as being a person whose death or suspected death may have been self inflicted, or

(b) as being a relative of a person whose death or suspected death may have been self inflicted.

(2B) For the purposes of subsection (2A) (b), the following persons are relatives of a person whose death or suspected death may have been self inflicted:

(a) the spouse of that person, a parent of that person, a person who stands in loco parentis to that person, a guardian of that person or a child of that person,

(b) a person who, at the time of the death or suspected death, was living with that person as her husband or his wife,

(c) a brother or sister of that person.

(2C) To the extent to which an order under subsection (2) prohibits the publication of any matter referred to in subsection (2A), the order continues to have effect after the coroner has made his or her findings, or after the jury has brought in its verdict, but only if the order expressly so provides.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), where, in an inquest, there is a finding or verdict that, or to the effect that, the death of a person was self-inflicted, no report of the proceedings shall be published after the finding or verdict.

(4) Where, in an inquest, there is a finding or verdict that, or to the effect that, the death of a person was self inflicted and the coroner holding the inquest is of opinion that it is desirable in the public interest to permit a report of the proceedings of the inquest to be published, the coroner may, by order, permit the whole of the proceedings, or such part of the proceedings as are specified in the order, to be published.

(5) A coroner holding an inquest or inquiry may, if of the opinion that it would be in the public interest to do so, order:

(a) all or any persons to go and remain outside the room or building in which the inquest or inquiry is being held, or

(b) that any evidence given at the inquest or inquiry being held by the coroner not be published.

(6) For the purposes of subsection (5), in forming an opinion as to the public interest, a coroner may, without limitation, have regard to the following:

(a) the administration of justice,

(b) national security,

(c) the personal security of the public or any person.