Violent threats against coroner over pill testing recommendations

The leaking of the draft recommendations into music festival deaths followed by sustained attacks on the coroner "significantly undermine" and are disrespectful of the process, the state's barristers have warned.

It comes as legal sources say the NSW Coroners Court has received several violent threats, including against Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame, after her proposed measures to stop drug-related deaths were publicised weeks before she was due to deliver her inquest findings.

Tim Game, SC, president of the NSW Bar Association, urged commentators to withhold pre-emptive criticism of Ms Grahame, saying it could be seen as trying to "influence independent proceedings".

"Media commentary regarding a leaked draft report of the Deputy State Coroner in relation to the current inquest in relation to festival deaths is premature and fails to respect the coronial process," Mr Game said on Wednesday afternoon.

“The coroner’s role is to investigate the circumstances of certain deaths and make any relevant recommendations for systemic change to government. It is then wholly a matter for government as to how those recommendations are dealt with."

The proposed measures to stop drug-related fatalities - including pill testing, and the rolling back of police powers - were published in The Daily Telegraph earlier this week in an article reporting senior police and government ministers were condemning the recommendations.

Central Coast teenager Alex Ross-King, 19, is one of six revellers whose deaths were investigated by an inquest.

Following the leak, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian doubled down on her resistance to pill testing, insisting her staunch opposition to illegal drug taking would not change.

NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay declared her support for a pill testing trial for the first time on Wednesday, basing her decision on the leaked coronial report into music festival deaths, but ruled out any support for a "watering down" of the "law and order approach" to illicit drugs.

"If the Coroner's full report comes out on the 8th November and she recommends pill testing in NSW, I would support a limited, controlled, medically supervised trial," she said.

Opposition Leader Jodi McKay has backed a medically supervised pill testing trial at music festivals.Credit: AAP

"I would like to see a very contained number of music festivals where this is trialled, and I want to see a focus on education and training."

Jennie Ross-King, whose daughter Alex's drug-related death on January 12 was one of six being examined by the inquest, said she hadn't had time to respond to the draft recommendations before they were revealed.

"It's completely undermined the process and it's disappointing that the people who leaked this documentation have obliterated the whole process," Ms Ross-King said.

The Central Coast mother, who said she supported all of Ms Grahame's recommendations, said there was a "level of contempt" for the inquiry: "If they [those who leaked the document] had any interest whatsoever in the process, then I would assume they would’ve been following the evidence and this wouldn't have come as a surprise."

A number of threatening phone calls have been made to the registry of the NSW Coroners Court this week, according to sources.

The deaths of Joshua Tam, 22, Nathan Tran, 18, Callum Brosnan, 19, Joseph Pham, 23, and Diana Nguyen, 21, who all died after consuming MDMA at music events between December 2017 and January this year, were also scrutinised during the three-week inquest.

Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame has called for pill testing at music festivals in a set of draft recommendations following an inquest into drug-related deaths.Credit: Yianni Aspradakis