The Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria Trust Bill 2024 is Lands and Property Minister Steve Kamper’s solution to the vexed problem of the city’s looming demand for burial plots,and the legislation is likely to pass the lower house on Tuesday with the support of the Coalition.
Sydney’s shortage of burial spaces has become a problem for state governments.Nick Moir
Tim Scott,who wrote the11th Hour report in 2020 warning that public cemeteries would run out of burial space by 2030,said the bill would see revenue made from public lands transferred into a Catholic Church-controlled trust outside the purview of government.
“At a time when our community is becoming increasingly secular,NSW is the only state in Australia to be handing the control of essential social infrastructure to the Catholic Church,” he said.
Under the proposed reforms,Catholics would retain control of five major burial sites on Crown land:Kemps Creek,Liverpool,Sydney’s newest cemetery Varroville,Wallacia and a portion of Rookwood,the largest necropolis in the southern hemisphere,established in 1868.
The11th Hour report had recommended merging the five main operators that run burial sites on Crown land,including the Catholic Church,into one state-owned agency. It would then manage Sydney’s cemeteries,using the revenue to ensure the sector’s continuing viability.
But the decision was met with backlash from the Catholic Church,which questioned why the government was taking control of their spiritual practices after 150 years. The reforms were shelved and the minister responsible,Nationals MP Melinda Pavey,sacked from cabinet.
Without purchasing significant additional cemetery space for the government agency,Metropolitan Memorial Parks,which oversees eight cemeteries across Sydney and Newcastle,it would run out of burial spaces and the capacity to generate revenue. The market would have two competitors:InvoCare,which runs 15 cemeteries and crematoria across NSW and Queensland,and the Catholic Church.
“Current and future generations of Sydneysiders will rue this decision which creates a duopoly in the cemetery market with no regulation to ensure affordable burials,” Scott said.
Metropolitan Memorial Parks plans to open 4500 burial allotments at three cemeteries in Sydney,plus a small expansion of Sandgate and Rookwood. There are 1 million interments in Rookwood.
Lands and Property Minister Steve Kamper says the government’s bill delivers certainty for the sector.Adam Yip
The legislation is in response to a decision of a Court of Appeal decision in February which established a charitable trust of the $160 million in proceeds the Catholic Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (CMCT) had collected from the use of burial grounds at the Rookwood necropolis since 1867.
But Scott questioned who would oversee the revenue made by the Catholic Church from selling burial spaces on public lands.
“Disturbingly,it would appear that future revenues from the sale of burial plots on Crown land will be funnelled into a trust outside the control and scrutiny of the NSW parliament. This trust has been independently estimated to grow to $5 billion over the next few decades,” he said.
Kamper said proceeds derived from cemeteries managed by the Catholic Church on Crown lands “must be spent on Crown cemeteries”,saying the government had increased the powers of the regulator and was delivering stronger consumer protections.
“We want both Crown operators to provide interment services to people of all faiths and no faith,now and into the future. The bill achieves this. We have put in place a strong accountability that promotes public trust and has the public’s interest at heart,” he said.
An of cemetery space last year by NSW Planning concluded Sydney would run out of burial space for multiple faith groups in less than three years.
A Catholic trust spokesman provided letters of support from 15 faith groups for Kamper’s bill. He rejected the suggestion the government was “handing over control” of burial sites,saying it was “merely allowing the Catholic Church to continue to operate its current cemeteries as it has done since 1867”.
The Uniting Church declined to comment on the government’s bill. A spokesman for the Lebanese Muslim Association,a provider of Islamic funeral services,noted the years of inaction by government which had “damaged the cemeteries sector and hurt religious communities”.
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