3. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears ¾
}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 clerk~ means a person referred to in section 12;
}coroner's investigator~ means a person referred to in section 14;
}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 medical practitioner registered under the Medical Act 1894;
}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 ¾
(a) a person under, or escaping from, the control, care or custody of ¾
(i) the department of the Public Service principally assisting the Minister administering the Child Welfare Act 1947 in its administration;
(ii) the Chief Executive Officer of the department of the Public Service principally assisting the Minister administering the Prisons Act 1981 in its administration; or
(iii) a member of the Police Force;
(aa) 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;
(b) a person admitted to a centre under the Alcohol and Drug Authority Act 1974;
(c) a person who is an involuntary patient within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1996, or who is apprehended or detained under Part 3 of that Act; or
(d) a person detained under the Young Offenders Act 1994;
}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 ¾
(a) that appears to have been unexpected, unnatural or violent or to have resulted, directly or indirectly, from injury;
(b) that occurs during an anaesthetic;
(c) that occurs as a result of an anaesthetic and is not due to natural causes;
(d) that occurs in prescribed circumstances;
(e) of a person who immediately before death was a person held in care;
(f) that appears to have been caused or contributed to while the person was held in care;
(g) that appears to have been caused or contributed to by any action of a member of the Police Force;
(h) of a person whose identity is unknown;
(i) 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
(j) 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 ¾
(a) that occurred in Western Australia;
(b) where the body is in Western Australia;
(c) the cause of which occurred in Western Australia;
(d) of a person who was ordinarily residing in Western Australia at the time of death; or
(e) 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 by 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.]