Chief Coroner of New Zealand explained

The Chief Coroner of New Zealand is the most senior coroner in New Zealand, and supervises the work of other coroners in that jurisdiction. The post was created by the passing into law of the Coroners Act 2006, and the first Chief Coroner, Neil MacLean, was named in December 2006 and took up the role in February 2007.^[1] The Coroners Act sets a statutory limit of 20 coroners; as of November 2022, there were 17 coroners based in nine centres, in addition to the Chief Coroner.^[2]

Office holders

Since 2007, three people have held the position of Chief Coroner. With some of their major inquests, they are:

	Name	Portrait	Term of office	Notable inquests	Sources
align=center	1	Judge Neil MacLean		2007–2015	Pike River Mine disaster Christchurch earthquakes	^[3]
align=center	2	Judge Deborah Marshall		2015–2022	Christchurch mosque shootings 2019 Whakaari / White Island eruption	^[4]
align=center	3	Judge Anna Tutton		2022–present		^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: First Chief Coroner appointed . 22 December 2006 . New Zealand Government . 23 November 2022.
2. Web site: Chief Coroner & coroners . 22 November 2022 . Ministry of Justice . 23 November 2022.
3. Web site: Queen's Birthday Honours 2015 – citation for Companion of the Queen's Service Order . 1 June 2015 . Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet . 23 November 2022.
4. News: Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall steps down after 7 years . 8 July 2021 . . 23 November 2022.
5. Web site: New Chief Coroner appointed . 25 November 2022 . New Zealand Government . 27 November 2022.