Adelaide Cemetries Authority Bill in committee

Extract from Hansard

Legislative Council
16 May 2001

Mike Elliott
Leader Australian Democrats
Member of the Legislative Council

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The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: I do not intend to speak to all the clauses, although the committee has recommended a significant number of amendments. As a member of the committee, there were two issues of particular concern to me. First, we did not want there to be the possibility that, some time in the future, South Australia-and Adelaide, in particular-could have a monopoly situation in the funeral business with a vertically integrated process from owning cemeteries through to owning the funeral parlours, etc. That has happened in some parts of the United States and in some parts of England (in fact, I think the same company was involved), and it has happened more recently, as I understand it, in Sydney.

I wish to ensure that that situation does not occur in the funeral business. It is an area where I think people are in a particularly vulnerable position, in terms of having had a death in their family, and having one company dominating the whole business has the potential to lead to significant rip-offs. So, that was one issue that I wanted the committee to address. While the amendments that have come forward do not give an absolute guarantee, certainly, this bill, if passed with the amendments recommended by the committee, will be better than the current situation.

The other matter about which I was concerned related to heritage. I think it has been noted in this Council on previous occasions that the West Terrace Cemetery is probably the most significant of the older cemeteries anywhere in Australia, and we need to be mindful of the heritage ingredients within that cemetery. I am told that, while some people have recognised that aspect, unfortunately, they have not recognised that, to varying extents, that is also true with respect to Cheltenham and Enfield. In fact, I have been told that some parts of the Cheltenham Cemetery, unfortunately, in the relatively recent past, were effectively bulldozed. That is most unfortunate.

Nevertheless, this committee report puts forward some amendments, which I think means that heritage matters will be more adequately addressed with the proposal to set up a committee with responsibility for oversight of heritage matters only. That committee will make an annual report to this parliament as part of the annual overall report that will come from the Adelaide Cemeteries Authority.

One thing which I believe only came to light during the proceedings of our committee and which I think was a most remarkable development is that the West Terrace Cemetery is subject to the State Heritage Act and, as such, it is illegal to put any headstone into the Adelaide Cemetery without planning approval. That had not been recognised until it came up during the considerations of this committee. I think that will probably provide potentially greater protection for the cemetery than almost anything else and now, as I understand it, it will be the responsibility of the Adelaide City Council to amend its development plan to take that into account. So, those members of the public who are concerned about heritage matters have the ability during that PAR process to make submissions to make sure that the heritage issues in the West Terrace Cemetery are adequately addressed.

The Hon. Diana Laidlaw: That applies immediately; we are requiring the development approval now we are aware of it. We do not have to defer the PAR.

The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: To make that quite clear, the requirement for approval applies now, but the point I am making is that, besides that, the development plan does not address it in any orderly fashion and it needs to do so. That matter is addressed in Appendix C of the report. I hope that with those words I have covered the important issues. The Democrats concerns have been largely addressed. I am still a little concerned about the potential for sale or, even more so, the lease out to private operators, which could lead to potential monopoly in the business, but certainly the amendments which are to be made to the bill will make it better than it was previously.