Hon Christopher Finlayson
Attorney-General
5 December 2012 Media Statement

Coroner appointed

Auckland lawyer Deborah Marshall has been appointed as a Coroner for the Auckland region, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson announced today.

Ms Marshall is currently General Counsel for the Serious Fraud Office. Prior to joining that office in June 2010, she was a partner at Meredith Connell. She is an experienced criminal prosecutor, specialising in regulatory litigation. She has appeared in many courts and tribunals, including the High Court, District Court, Coroner’s Court and Human Rights Review Tribunal. She has also prosecuted cases in various disciplinary tribunals, including the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.

The function of a Coroner is to inquire into the cause of death where the death appears to have been violent, unnatural, without known cause, a suicide, or appears to have occurred while the deceased was in the custody of the state.

Ms Marshall fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Dr Murray Jamieson in September 2011, and will relieve pressure on the three coroners currently based in Auckland.

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World Refugee Day:
Are We Doing Our Bit?

On World Refugee Day, Thursday June 20th, Doing Our Bit will officially launch a campaign to double New Zealand’s UNHCR Refugee Resettlement Quota...

New Zealand’s low refugee intake is not a new issue. In February a NZ Herald editorial commented that our intake was ‘paltry’, remarking that ‘surely we could do more’. In April, Amnesty International described the quota as ‘tiny'.

“Despite being a small country in the middle of the South Pacific, New Zealand prides itself on being hospitable. We are friendly to overseas visitors and we see ourselves as punching above our weight in international affairs,” said Murdoch Stephens, coordinator of Doing Our Bit.

“However, in terms of accepting refugees New Zealand is clearly not doing our share.” More>>