The New South Wales Bar Association on Wednesday slammed the leaking of the state coroner’s draft report on festival deaths as disrespecting the coronial process.

“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,” said Tim Game SC, president of the NSW Bar.

The Daily Telegraph recently outlined the recommendations made in the coronial inquest into drug-related deaths at music festivals in NSW from 2017 to 2018. According to the publication, which received a leaked copy of the inquest report, Deputy State Coroner Harriet Graham’s recommendations included that pill testing be introduced and that using police sniffer dogs and conducting police body searches be stopped.