Tuesday, 7 February 2023

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:43): (12) My adjournment is for the Minister for Health, and it concerns the board of Remembrance Parks Central Victoria cemetery trust. The action that I seek is for the minister to exercise the powers available to her under section 10 of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 and remove the current board of Remembrance Parks Central Victoria cemetery trust and appoint an administrator until such time as a new skilled and compassionate board is appointed by the minister. Remembrance Parks Central Victoria is a class A cemetery trust controlling 11 separate regional cemeteries in Bendigo, Eaglehawk, White Hills, Kangaroo Flat, Axedale, Donnybrook, Sunbury, Heathcote, Pine Lodge and Kialla West. The RPCV website clearly articulates the values and mission statement of the organisation, stating that all members of the organisation will uphold the values of compassion, community and integrity as well as deliver quality and caring service with compassion.

The actions of the trust in recent times have been in complete contrast to these values, with management practices and the treatment of families of departed loved ones best described as cruel and heartless. In the last few weeks hundreds of families of loved ones interred at some cemeteries managed by RPCV have been left devastated when, without any warning or consultation, personal keepsakes, mementos and tributes have been removed from graves. Grieving families honour their loved ones by personalising their gravesites, and the actions of the trust to remove these items have caused unimaginable grief. To add insult to injury, the trust board started out defending this action, then only after considerable media attention finally admitted it was heavy-handed and stood down the CEO. In the meantime families with graves at Pine Lodge were insulted when RPCV posted on their Facebook page that the items had been washed away in the floods. The floods were in mid-October. Families had visited graves many times between then and January when the graves were cleared of memorials. An RPCV staff member told one family that a sign was supposed to be erected giving families three months to clear the graves, but a mistake had been made and they were cleared before it went up.

Clearly the excuses were being made up to suit the complaint. This heartless act comes in the wake of RPCV’s controversial proposal in May 2022 to introduce exorbitant price increases for interment and cremation services, a proposal that was ultimately abandoned following pressure from the Liberal–‍Nationals coalition and significant negative media regarding the issue. These two controversial incidents show a pattern of failure in governance of the current board. The provisions of section 10 of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 allow the minister to remove the current RPCV board and appoint an administrator. I urge her to do so until a more compassionate and suitable board of directors can be appointed.