Victorian Numbered Acts Victorian Numbered Acts(1) Unless otherwise ordered by the coroner, the principal registrar must provide—
(a) the senior next of kin of a deceased person with any reports given to a coroner as result of a medical examination performed on the deceased;
(b) an interested party with a copy of the inquest brief.
(2) A coroner may also release a document to—
(a) an interested party if the coroner is satisfied that the party has a sufficient interest in the document;
(b) a statutory body if the coroner is satisfied that the release of the document is required to allow the statutory body to exercise a statutory function;
(c) a member of the police force for law enforcement purposes;
(d) a person who is conducting research if the coroner is satisfied that the research has been approved by an appropriate human research ethics committee;
(e) any person if the coroner is satisfied that the release is in the public interest;
(f) a person specified in the rules as being a person to whom documents may be released.
(3) A coroner may impose conditions on the release of any document under subsection (1) or (2).
(4) A person to whom a document has been released under this section must comply with any condition placed on that release.
Penalty: 60 penalty units.
(5) A person must not knowingly or recklessly fail to comply with any condition placed on the release of a document under this section.
Penalty: 60 penalty units.
(6) A document relating to the investigation of a death or a fire that is held by a coroner must not be released by a coroner except as permitted under this Act or any other law.
(7) In this section," inquest brief" means a brief of evidence that is prepared for an inquest and contains the following (if available)—
(a) a statement of identification by an appropriate person;
(b) any reports given to a coroner as a result of a medical examination;
(c) reports and statements that the coroner investigating the death or fire believes are relevant to an inquest;
(d) other evidentiary material that the coroner investigating the death or fire believes is relevant to the inquest;
(e) any material prescribed by the rules or the regulations.
(8) For the purposes of subsection (7), an inquest brief does not include any part of a medical file that the coroner considers to be irrelevant to the inquest.