[2] It was established in Australia following recognition by coroners that their mandate for public health and safety could be improved if they could share coronial data across borders to identify previous similar deaths.
[3] Prior to the establishment of the NCIS there was no systematic national data storage system for Australia’s eight coronial jurisdictions and the NCIS is considered an invaluable tool to facilitate public health knowledge and research, hence strengthening the coroner's role[4] In September 1997, the Australian Coroners' Society endorsed a business plan for the development and management of the NCIS by a consortium called the Monash University National Centre for Coronial Information (MUNCCI).
The NCIS provides information to agencies responsible for developing community health and safety strategies to reduce the incidence of preventable death and injury in Australia and New Zealand.
[6] The NCIS database is available by application only to approved users, including death investigators (coroners, coronial death investigators, forensic pathologists and police assisting a coroner) and ethically approved third party researchers.
Access for Australian and New Zealand death investigators provides them with the ability to review previous coronial cases across jurisdictions that may be similar in nature to current investigations, thus ensuring their ability to identify systemic hazards within the community.