The Justice and Related Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2025 has passed the House of Assembly.
While the Bill amends four existing Acts, the most significant amendments relate to the Coroners Act 1995, providing for a clear and direct right of access by senior next of kin to coronial records.
The Bill inserts a provision to clarify that the senior next of kin will be provided with a copy of the coronial record they seek, within 28 days, unless one of the limited exceptions applies.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Corrections and Rehabilitation, Guy Barnett, acknowledged the advocacy of the Westbrook family.
"Today is a significant day for Tasmania," the Attorney-General said.
"The passage of this legislation through the House of Assembly will make closure for Tasmanians and their families easier and fairer.
"I want to particularly thank the Westbrook family for their ongoing advocacy to get to this moment.
"We will continue to help Tasmanians to deal with the challenges they face, with compassion and commonsense.
"I look forward to the Bill being considered by the Legislative Council in due course."
The Bill also includes minor amendments to the Corrections Act 1997, Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2020 and Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1998 to improve the operation of these Acts.
The amendments also include removing unnecessary restrictions that prevent Tasmania's highly qualified nurse practitioners from issuing workers compensation certificates in emergency departments under appropriate protocols.
Currently only medical practitioners can issue these certificates, which is inefficient in our busy hospitals. The amendments also allow regulations to be made in future to expand this initiative.
The amendments arise from requests from various stakeholders to update, clarify and improve the operation of these particular pieces of legislation and I would like to extend my thanks to these stakeholders for their input to this process.
