An artist’s impression of Macarthur Memorial Park.
The report,“The 11th hour:Solving Sydney’s cemetery crisis”,recommends consolidating the five existing cemetery trusts,one Catholic and four government,into a single Crown trust to place the sector on a “sustainable basis”.
By merging the trusts,it would reduce 30 per cent of existing inefficiencies and provide standardised maintenance,the report found. This would help the government fund net liabilities,estimated to be in excess of $310 million,to pay for the maintenance of cemeteries in the future. Within 20 years,these savings would generate enough excess capital to acquire and construct new cemeteries needed for Sydney.
Without these changes,the report warns cemeteries posed a significant financial risk to the state’s finances.
The review was commissioned by Ms Pavey to make recommendations on the challenges facing the sector,review the existing legislation and evaluate the efficiency of the existing trusts.
It recommends one Crown trust,in which external organisations such as the Catholic trust and other non-government operators may have a role.
The first sod was turned at Macarthur Park,which is on Crown land,early last year with construction scheduled to begin imminently. It had taken eight years to win approval and overcome community objections.
The chief executive of Catholic Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust Peter O’Meara said Ms Pavey’s decision “did not make sense”.