Page 1100 - Week 03 - Thursday, 26 February 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
tabled a report in September last year. The committee recommended that the government facilitate the development of natural burial grounds in South Australia. The South Australian government responded quickly and a new natural burial ground is now being established. The committee also noted the excellent opportunities for natural burial grounds to be used as buffers between conservation and other land uses. This multipurpose nature allows natural burial grounds to be inexpensive.
Pinnaroo memorial park in Western Australia and Kingston cemetery in Tasmania are multipurpose cemeteries in bushland settings. Their popularity with the public, both as burial sites and as public open spaces, proves that Australians are open to innovative cemetery designs, and those who are not supportive of natural cemetery designs are quickly being converted. All of these cemeteries differ in the degree to which they have adopted environmental objectives. Some are hybrid burial grounds where an existing cemetery puts aside an area for natural burials. Some are more focused on performing the function of a nature reserve and provide cemetery functions in addition.
Here in Canberra, we do not have any areas for natural burials, but the ACT government has an opportunity in 2009 to facilitate the creation of a natural burial ground. As an identified wildlife corridor, the site in Tuggeranong is an ideal location. I am encouraged that the government has said it will undertake community consultation about the proposed Tuggeranong cemetery, but I hope this is proper consultation and not just an empty formality.
The government has already said a number of times that it is exploring where to put a second crematorium and another cemetery. Has it already been decided then, before the consultation, that the choice for Tuggeranong is a crematorium and a standard cemetery? The government should start this process not by examining how it would build a crematorium in a standard cemetery but by bringing the public into a discussion about the full range of options for cemeteries, including those that restore and conserve the environment and respect the wishes of its citizens. The Greens will certainly be having this discussion, in the absence of any efforts by the government.
The Chief Minister stated in the media recently that he would look at changing ACT law to permit natural burials. I would like the Chief Minister to clarify what, if any, impediments there are and to ensure they are removed swiftly.
In conclusion, this is an important issue. Now is the time for interested residents to have a constructive debate. It is time for genuine community consultation about what options they would like to have available to them. This Assembly debate is part of that.
MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Minister for Transport, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Minister for the Arts and Heritage) (3.13): The ACT government is committed to giving our community facilities and services that satisfy its needs and that respond to its changing values and desires. There is no doubt that values and desires around the way we handle death and burial have changed over the decades and over the generations. In past generations, the idea of laying a loved
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .