{"id":632637,"date":"2026-04-26T19:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632637\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T19:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:54:11","slug":"this-has-to-be-a-wake-up-call-nsw-attorney-general-urged-to-order-inquest-into-death-of-sydneys-birdman-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632637\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This has to be a wake-up call\u2019: NSW attorney general urged to order inquest into death of Sydney\u2019s \u2018birdman\u2019 | Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New South Wales<\/a> attorney-general, Michael Daley, has been urged to order an inquest into the death of Nepali rough sleeper Bikram Lama in Hyde Park.<\/p>\n

The death of Lama \u2013 who was also known as \u201cthe birdman\u201d for his love of the area\u2019s pigeons \u2013 has prompted widespread calls for change, after Guardian Australia revealed<\/a> last week that the young migrant\u2019s body lay unnoticed for up to a week in bushes near a busy thoroughfare into St James station.<\/p>\n

Lama\u2019s family say he came to Australia to study, but he fell out of contact with them, and records show he was deemed a non-resident by the time of his death. The City of Sydney<\/a> estimates about one in five rough sleepers in the inner-city are not Australian residents.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

Non-residents are typically unable to access key supports needed to get out of homelessness, including social housing, social security, healthcare and work rights.<\/p>\n

The coroner is yet to determine whether an inquest into Lama\u2019s death will be held, but has sought contact with Lama\u2019s family in Nepal.<\/p>\n

The independent MP for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, wrote to Daley on Friday requesting that he use his powers to direct an inquest be held into the death that examined potential policy failures.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike so many other people, I was just shocked and saddened by this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking but this has to be a wake-up call for policymakers, and the question that we have to be asking ourselves is: \u2018did Bikram Lama die because of failures in state and federal policies\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daley\u2019s office said the coroner was still waiting for a brief of evidence from police, after which it would decide whether to hold an inquest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Attorney General has received correspondence in relation to this matter,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThe Coroner is awaiting a brief of evidence from NSW Police. Once that is received, the court will review the matter and determine whether it will proceed to inquest as per usual processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, Guardian Australia investigated<\/a> more than 600 homelessness deaths and found a vast life expectancy gap with the general population, often due to systemic failures to provide housing, healthcare and mental health support.<\/p>\n

Recent coronial inquests have sought to specifically probe the nexus between a lack of housing, gaps in homelessness support and rough sleeper deaths.<\/p>\n

Last month, Victorian coroner Simon McGregor examined the death of Sacha Lefebvre, 52, who was sleeping rough in December 2025 outside Hawthorn library in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Lefebvre had a history of mental ill-health, physical health concerns and substance use issues. His death prompted the coroner to call for greater homelessness support and for housing to be treated as a human right.<\/p>\n

Greenwich said it was crucial that an inquest seek to similarly understand the circumstances of Bikram\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just so many questions that need to be answered here,\u201d he said. \u201cIf this is happening to Bikram, unless we got to the bottom of this and what policy failures led to it, this will happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New South Wales attorney-general, Michael Daley, has been urged to order an inquest into the death of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-632637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}