Coronial inquest on hold as Copper Mines of Tasmania attempts to block report

More than five years after the deaths of three Queenstown mine workers, the coronial inquest is on indefinite hold while the mining company attempts to stop a report being given to the coroner.

Then Mayor Robyn Gerrity outside the mine in Queenstown.

MORE than five years after the deaths of three Queenstown mine workers, the coronial inquest is on indefinite hold while the mining company attempts to stop a report being given to the coroner.

The inquest is examining the December 2013 deaths of Alistair Lucas, 25, and Craig Gleeson, 45, who died after a platform they were working on in the Mt Lyell mine shaft collapsed.

It also includes the death of mine machinery operator Michael Welsh, 53, who died six weeks later in a mudrush at the Queenstown mine on January 17, 2014.

Mr Welsh was killed while working in an area of the mine that had its safety rating increased to medium — the second highest rating in the four-level safety system — earlier that morning.

Copper Mines of Tasmania was convicted in the Burnie Magistrates Court in 2016 and fined $225,000 over the deaths of Mr Lucas and Mr Gleeson.

The conviction was for failing to provide a safe workplace.

The company pleaded not guilty to the same charge in relation to Mr Welsh’s death and the case was dropped after evidence from a Workplace Standards investigator and mining consultant John Webber was disallowed.

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Mr Webber put together a report containing information about safety at the mine, the nature of the terrain, geological factors, staffing movements, safety protocols and other information relevant to the incident.

In a written ruling on February 1, 2018, Coroner Simon Cooper said Mr Webber would be called to give evidence during the inquest.

CMT took the coroner to the Supreme Court and on May 25, 2018, Justice Stephen Estcourt ruled in favour of the mining company, prohibiting the inclusion of Mr Webber’s evidence in the inquest.

That decision is being appealed to the Full Court by the State and appeared before that court yesterday

Solicitor-General Michael O’Farrell said the inquest was only at the stage of the coroner calling for evidence to be received.

“The coroner hasn’t admitted anything into evidence yet and that’s what they [CMT] want to stop,” he said.

Lawyer for CMT Chris Gunson said if Mr Webber was called as a witness in the inquest in relation to his report it would not be possible to cross examine him.

“The report of Mr Webber is so woeful and deficient, it’s virtually impossible to understand his reasoning and to effectively cross examine him and that constitutes procedural unfairness,” he said.

“It’s not his fault the report is in this format — we don’t suggest he was behaving maliciously. He wasn’t briefed as an expert and he presented the report as would do as a consultant.”

The Full Court reserved its decision and the coronial inquest remains adjourned.