A Perth woman is calling for a coronial inquest into the death of her husband, Laurence Harbeck, saying she has spent nearly 19 months searching for answers after he took his own life while working on an offshore liquefied natural gas facility — and has largely been met with silence.

Mr Harbeck, 34, died in November 2024 while employed as a process control engineer on the Ichthys LNG plant, operated by INPEX and located 220 kilometres off Western Australia's Kimberley coast. His body was discovered in his room by a cleaner on what was due to be the final day of his 15-day fly-in, fly-out swing before returning home to his wife.

Fourteen hours of silence

His wife, Danielle Hadida, a family law senior associate, says she was not informed of her husband's death until 9.30pm that evening — more than 14 hours after his body was found at 7:30am. The notification came not from INPEX, but from two police officers who arrived at her front door.

"I remember waving and smiling at them because I thought they just needed some CCTV or something," Ms Hadida recalled. "I opened the door and they just said, 'I'm sorry to tell you, Laurence has died'. And I didn't believe them."

She said she was listed as her husband's emergency contact at work and no one from the company called her during those intervening hours. She says she has never received any explanation for the delay.

"I'm Laurie's emergency contact at work — no one called me, and I carry tremendous guilt," she said.

Grieving widow says INPEX never reached out

Ms Hadida described her dealings with INPEX in the months since as deeply inadequate. She says she has had very little contact from anyone at the company, including her husband's direct supervisors or workmates, and that nobody reached out to attend his funeral.

"I have never, ever heard from Laurie's direct boss, from his colleagues. No one contacted asking to come to his funeral. And that really, really upsets me," she said.

She described feeling "completely disregarded" and "disrespected" throughout the process. There was no note left by Mr Harbeck, whom Ms Hadida described as smart, funny and generous — a man who played guitar, enjoyed boating and fishing, and adored his pets. The couple had been married for just eight months at the time of his death.

Ms Hadida said there had been no obvious signs her husband was struggling with his mental health, though he had spoken to her about work-related stress and difficulties sleeping. She said he had also raised his workload concerns with his managers.

"He was doing too much work and I know that he'd talked about it to his bosses. We had no other distress in life. There was no financial pressure. We had a great marriage," she said.

Regulator's report kept from family

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) — the regulator responsible for oversight of offshore facilities — confirmed it had completed what it described as a "thorough" investigation into Mr Harbeck's death. However, Ms Hadida says she was told she would not automatically receive a copy of the findings and would need to lodge a formal Freedom of Information application to access the report.

She says she also feels let down by NOPSEMA's handling of her family's situation, adding to her sense of being shut out of a process that directly concerns her husband's death.

Like other families who have sought accountability following a loved one's sudden death, Ms Hadida is now pushing for a formal coronial inquest, arguing that only an independent inquiry will deliver the transparency she has been unable to obtain through the company or the regulator.

What happens next

Ms Hadida's calls for a coronial inquest represent an escalation in her 19-month effort to understand the circumstances surrounding her husband's death. She continues to press for full disclosure of the NOPSEMA investigation findings and accountability from INPEX over its handling of the incident and its communication — or lack thereof — with his next of kin.

If you or someone you know needs support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.