Church asked to justify fees

TREASURER Peter Gutwein has asked the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania to justify its plan to hike the cost of burials up to a whopping $15,000.

The Anglican Church had warned of increased burial costs before the law was amended, but the State Government says other cemetery managers reported “they do not anticipate a material increase in the cost of burials” as a result of the change.

Mr Gutwein said the Anglican Church should show the modelling it used to justify its claim that a recent change to the Burial and Cremation Act would force it to increase the cost of a burial, typically between $500 and $1000. Bishop of Tasmania, Dr Richard Condie, said the church’s modelling was based on the anticipated cost of maintaining a cemetery for at least 100 years.

He said the Anglican Church modelling would help parishes calculate their charges, with mowing, gardening, path and driveway maintenance, fencing and administration costs all factored in.

“Different cemeteries will need to charge different amounts based on these calculations, and on the likely number of plots to be sold,” Bishop Condie said.

Mr Gutwein said the Government consulted extensively when it was reviewing the Act, which it believed “strikes the right balance between protecting the community, while also enabling cemetery managers to do their important work without undue regulatory burden”.