Professor Ray Murphy:

Actually, I believe the legislation should be amended. Surely, it would be preferable to have a statutory obligation on the coroner to perform this particular role or that the legislation would specify how it would be done rather than some discretionary power that the Minister or Attorney General has. We would, therefore, argue that either the coroner is given and allowed to play a specific role or there is some other independent investigative mechanism to perform this role, and that it should not be at the discretion of the Minister or the Attorney General. I do not in any way dispute their bona fides but it should be enshrined in the statute at the outset. Even at a later stage when the statute is implemented, often things emerge that one has not thought of and these are that we think of right now. If, therefore, anything is thought of right now that indicates a deficiency or weakness, it is imperative that it be addressed.