The ACT's chief coroner has renewed calls for a dedicated coroner, after failing to receive a response from the government on the issue for more than a year.
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Chief coroner Lorraine Walker said despite asking the government to consider establishing a dedicated coroner in the ACT in 2015, there had been no movement on the issue.
Currently the ACT Coroner's Court is allocated no extra resources to perform judicial coronial functions and each magistrate retains an active case load.
In the ACT Coroner's Court 2015/16 Annual Report, tabled in the ACT Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Ms Walker wrote that this meant coronial work was often a 'secondary priority" as general magistrate duties demanded more immediate attention.
"Last year I made public comment to the effect that the ACT has, in my opinion, reached a point at which the community would benefit from the appointment of a dedicated Coroner, supplemented as required from the existing complement of magistrates to provide out of hours duty cover, absences on leave and the like," Ms Walker said.
"Regrettably I have not received a formal response from government in relation to this issue. I reiterate my recommendation that serious consideration be given to establishing a dedicated coroner appointment for the ACT."
The ACT Coroner's Court also looks after the Jervis Bay Territory and the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Legislative changes made in April 2014 have reduced the number of cases referred to the coroner.
Only one fire was referred to the coroner's court in 2015/16, compared to more than 1000 in 2012/13.
However the number of deaths referred to the court has remained steady over the past three years.
Ms Walker said doctors still seemed reluctant to write certificates for deaths which are subsequently found to be natural causes.
"I was hopeful that the changes to the health-care related deaths jurisdictional ground which came into effect towards the middle of this reporting period would also have the effect of reducing the number of reports, but that does not appear to have been the case," she wrote.
At the end of 2015/16, more than 150 coronal cases had been pending for more than 12 months.
Ms Walker said continued efforts would be made this year to address historic pending matters, especially those older than two years.
It took a median of 75 days to finalise a case in 2015-16, down from 83 days the previous year.
The report also revealed toxicology services would still be provided by the ACT government's lab despite earlier concerns about time lags.
There was a marginal improvement in the turnaround for toxicology reports from the ACT Government Analytical Laboratory (ACTGAL), despite persistent delays in previous years.
"Prior to 2013/14 ACTGAL [ACT Government Analytical Laboratory] had been taking up to three months for testing and reporting of samples, which had a flow on effect to the completion of post-mortem reports and thus finalisation of cases," Ms Walker said.
"Consideration was being given to purchasing all toxicology services from NSW FASS, but this action was stayed in the light of commitments from ACTGAL that it could improve turnaround times and was targeting a maximum 30 day turnaround time.
I am pleased to report ACTGAL continues to meet its target for turnaround times in this reporting period, and has managed a slight improvement from last year [a 26.3 day turnaround]."
ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay's office was contacted for comment.
