Priced out of your cemetery

If cemeteries are forced to stay open for 100 years after their last burial, families will have to pay more now to cover costs, says Richard Condie

THIS week the Tasmanian Government tabled changes to the Burial and Cremation Act 2002. These changes will unfortunately have significant implications on the affordability of burial plots in cemeteries, regardless of who owns them.

While not intended by the legislation, the one thing Tasmanians wanted — assured access to their cemeteries — will be compromised under these proposed changes. We are thankful that the Government has listened and made some changes to the draft legislation which will reduce some of the additional cost burden on cemetery managers. However, the major issue of how long a cemetery must stay open after the last burial remains unchanged from the draft amendment legislation.

Currently, a cemetery can be closed 30 years after the last burial, which is already longer than every other state apart from South Australia, which is 50 years. Closure does not mean that a cemetery manager can remove headstones or exhume bodies, rather that there will not be any further burials in that cemetery.

At present, in certain circumstances, a cemetery manager may apply to relocate headstones within the property creating a park (and thereby reducing maintenance costs). The current Act requires that human remains are always treated with dignity and respect.

The Government’s proposed legislation assumes a new normal timeframe of 100 years after the last burial before closure.

While there is an ability to apply, under special circumstances, to close a cemetery after 50 years, cemetery managers will have no choice other than to budget for 100 years when accepting interments. The costs involved to maintain a cemetery for this length of time must be borne by someone.

Once a cemetery has remained unchanged for this 100-year period, it would most likely satisfy many of the criteria under Section 16(2) of the Historic Cultural Heritage Act 1995. This Act imposes various limitations, which will restrict the management of the cemetery.

This is likely to further drive up the costs of burials, because cemetery managers would need to budget for management of a site in perpetuity.

The Anglican Church has 81 cemeteries spread across Tasmania. We estimate the cost of maintenance to be $100 to $150 a year for each burial plot. This cost includes paying insurance, water rates, mowing, spraying and structural repairs to fencing and burial grounds, including grounds works to keep the cemetery safe. Multiplying this figure by 100 years gives you a maintenance cost of $10,000 to $15,000 per burial plot.

This will mean the cost of a burial plot will have to increase by at least this amount in order to ensure that we have the necessary funds to provide the level of care and maintenance required under the proposed legislation. Our calculations do not reflect a cost for the maintenance of the cemeteries forever, once heritage listed.

While I know that the Government and the Opposition want to protect cemeteries for the long term, I can’t see why they would pass legislation that will result in Tasmanian families bearing the burden of the increased costs.

Rather than guaranteeing the freedom to be buried with your loved ones, it will have the reverse effect of pricing people out. In fact, many local cemeteries faced with passing on these massive new fees are likely to make the decision to stop accepting new burials.

We are not alone in our concerns. The Australian Funeral Directors Association, Catholic Church, Uniting Church and Local Government Association of Tasmania have all voiced similar concerns in their submissions to the Government.

We want to assure Tasmanians that the Anglican Church has heard community concerns about losing access to their local church buildings and cemeteries.

We understand people want to be buried with their loved ones. We are taking every possible step to ensure this can continue even after our sales process, which is necessary to raise funds for both redress for survivors of sexual abuse, and to help make the church’s operation in Tasmania sustainable for the longer term.

In coming weeks our Diocesan Council will meet to consider the appeals received from parishes and community groups and determine the final list of properties to be sold.

We recognise that churches and cemeteries hold significant value within local communities. For church properties that are to be sold, we will prioritise solutions that enable these properties to be used by and for members of the local community into the future.

We only hope that amendments are made to the legislation during the parliamentary process so that everyday Tasmanians aren’t priced out of their local cemetery, regardless of who owns it.

Rather than guaranteeing the freedom to be buried with your loved ones, it will have the reverse effect