Page 661 - Week 02 - Thursday, 20 February 2020
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that have occurred over the past year that have been brought to light by Ms Cheyne and members of the community.
In 2017 the Standing Committee on Environment and Transport and City Services of this Assembly undertook an inquiry into the management of cemeteries in the ACT. This inquiry made 12 recommendations which recognised the need for a review of the current act. The bill before us today is a positive outcome in responding to the recommendations and has been developed in consultation with the community and key stakeholders.
Extensive engagements with the community since the inquiry have led to us considering this bill today. In late 2018 we ran a comprehensive community engagement process that included a survey which generated around 700 responses. Engagement also took place in the community in other ways, with information stalls in town centres and libraries, focus groups, and face-to-face meetings with a variety of religious and cultural groups in order to better understand their needs, including our ACT Multicultural Advisory Council and the Canberra Interfaith Forum.
Through this consultation process, I have listened to the community and taken their feedback seriously. These engagements highlighted that more than one in 10 people who have a religious or cultural need do not have it met by the services currently offered. Specifically, gaps were identified in relation to cremations for people of the Hindu, Sikh and Jain faiths. People from these faiths have had to travel Sydney in order to pay their respects and properly lay their loved ones to rest. This is a barrier no person should have to contend with in such a socially inclusive place as Canberra, especially during a time of grief and mourning.
I am committed to ensuring that all members of our community have access to services that meet their needs. Providing access to burial and cremation services that meet a person’s needs is an essential part of supporting their human right to freedom of belief. Under the bill, it will be a requirement for all operators to have regard to the cultural and religious needs or preferences of the community when establishing, planning, improving and operating a facility. It also makes it an offence for operators to refuse any reasonable request made on the basis of religious or cultural need.
To complement these amendments, the government has recently committed to building the ACT’s first public crematorium, and there will be a viewing facility. I do not appreciate the comments that were made by the opposition suggesting that there will not be. That is absolutely what we are looking at here for the crematorium at Gungahlin. We are currently going through the design process in consultation with the community to make sure that we are meeting their needs directly. We have members of our board who have those faiths and can contribute to that conversation.
The provisions of this bill will bring the ACT into line with contemporary values and best practice methods for regulating cemeteries and crematoria, and will ensure that all members of our community have access to appropriate services that meet their needs. I would like to take the opportunity to outline the major changes proposed in the bill. Firstly, the bill makes providing a financially sustainable model for managing cemeteries and crematoria and meeting the diverse needs of the community the key
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