Work out whether a Queensland death is reportable and an inquest is required
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the reports the lawyer marks, list the facts against section 8(2), section 8(3) and section 27, and cite the paragraph each fact is said to meet. Do not classify the death or say an inquest is required.
- What the lawyer must review
- Decide whether both section 8(2) and section 8(3) are met
- Decide whether section 27 requires an inquest, including a death in custody or in care
- Check whether a section 30 direction or order requires an inquest despite the coroner
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. Coroners Court of Queensland
Produce. A classification note citing section 8 and section 27, without a conclusion.
Have ready. Report of the death; Facts on custody, care, health care and police operations; Where the death and the body are.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The person died in Queensland in a violent incident that was not in custody. The note quotes those facts against section 8(3)(b) and records that section 27(1)(a) is not met on the material. It does not say no inquest can be held.
Stop and hand it back when
- The Queensland connection in section 8(2) is not addressed.
- The note says an inquest is or is not required.
Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | From the reports the lawyer marks, list the facts against section 8(2), section 8(3) and section 27, and cite the paragraph each fact is said to meet. Do not classify the death or say an inquest is required. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Section 8(1) requires both subsection (2) and subsection (3). Subsection (2) is the Queensland connection, including a body in Queensland or ordinary residence in Queensland. Subsection (3) includes an unknown person, a violent or unnatural death, suspicious circumstances, a health care related death, no cause of death certificate, a death in care, a death in custody, and a death in the course of police operations.
- Section 8(5): a death after a voluntary assisted dying substance under the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2021 is not a reportable death.
- Section 27(1) requires an inquest for a death in custody, a death in care that raises issues about the care, a police-operations death unless the coroner is satisfied an inquest is not required, and a mining related reportable death.
- An Attorney-General direction, a State Coroner's order, or a District Court order on a section 30 application also requires an inquest, despite a coroner's decision not to hold one.
Sources
- Coroners Act 2003 (Qld) s 8, reportable death defined · 2026-10-23
- Coroners Act 2003 (Qld) s 27, when an inquest must be held · 2026-10-23
Section 27(2) says a death in custody does not include a person detained under the Public Health Act 2005. Do not drop that limit.
No Coroners Court practice direction on generative AI was opened.