Labor says it can’t force coronial inquests in WA. The opposition wants to change that

Western Australia’s opposition will attempt to wedge the Cook government on its reluctance to trigger a coronial inquest into the murders of the Hawke children by their mother in Port Hedland in 2022.

Shadow attorney general Nick Goiran will introduce an amendment to the Coroners Act in parliament on Thursday that would give Attorney General Tony Buti unambiguous power to direct the coroner’s office to begin an inquest into a death.

Margaret Hawke killed her children, aged 10, seven, and four months old, at their Port Hedland home in 2022. The children’s grandmother Dorothy Papertalk has urged an inquest into their deaths.

Former coroner Phil Urquhart denied the request in 2025, but the Hawke children were again thrust into the spotlight after a series of reports by The Australian found multiple warnings to child protection workers in the Pilbara were not heeded in the lead up to their murders.

Pressure has mounted on the WA government to demand a coronial inquest, but Buti and Premier Roger Cook have maintained their hands were tied because the act only allows for the attorney general to direct an inquest once a request had already been denied if there was fresh evidence.

That position was challenged by legal luminaries, including former governor Malcolm McCusker and ex-Children’s Court president Denis Reynolds, prompting Buti to publish legal advice he received from Solicitor General Jean Shaw confirming his position.

The opposition’s amendment, which has the support of the Greens – meaning it could pass the upper house – would allow Buti to direct an inquest without qualifications, which is similar to powers held by the Queensland attorney general.

“If the premier is not going to tell the attorney general to [direct an inquest], if the premier himself is not going to lead, then we will give him the unequivocal doubt that he appears so desperately in need of,” Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said on Tuesday.

“We are going to give the government what they appear bereft of being able to arrive at on their own, and the fact that they have delayed, the fact that there is no clarity or certainty as to why they won’t call it or just get on and do it has absolutely bewildered many in the community.”

WA Ombudsman Bevan Warner revealed his office had reviewed the case files and bodycam footage of police dealings with Margaret Hawke in the years before she murdered her children as part of a family and domestic violence report handed down earlier this year.

Because of the media interest in the case, on Friday Warner revealed at least 17 emergency calls were made that prompted six family violence reports in relation to Hawke.

Buti and Cook were asked on the weekend whether this constituted enough fresh evidence to trigger a coronial inquest, which Cook said the government was considering, and would have an answer by the end of this week.

Buti was approached for comment.

The Australian’s reporting on the child protection crisis in the Pilbara included revelations that children were living in squalid conditions in a Housing Authority home on Frisby Court in South Hedland unattended for days at a time.

The pressure has forced Child Protection Minister Jess Stojkovski to travel to the town three times since September and prompted several announcements, including the expansion of the Port Hedland safe night space from three nights to seven nights a week, and the appointment of the WA Chief Practitioner to directly oversee child safety investigations and intensive family support cases in Port Hedland.

Attention has now turned to the role of Aboriginal Affairs Minister Don Punch, who has remained silent on the issue.

Punch was absent from Parliament this week due to illness, but that didn’t stop the opposition from sticking the boot in and calling for his resignation

“Okay, he may well be ill, but where has he been over the eight weeks that this issue has been bubbling to the surface?” Zempilas asked.

“He has been missing in action. He is a joke of a minister in this portfolio, he should resign immediately and the premier, if the minister doesn’t hand him his resignation, should go and ask for it.”

Punch was approached for comment.

Pilbara MP Kevin Michel, who has also been criticised for being absent in the child protection issue, addressed media questions on the issue for the first time outside parliament on Tuesday.

When questioned about his government’s efforts in the Pilbara, Michel pointed to the safe night space and senior staff heading to his electorate.

“We’re still working with everyone, and we’ll make sure that we implement what we do,” he said.

Asked about Punch’s absence from his electorate, Michel said he had no comment.

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