Tuesday, 6 February 2024

Remembrance Parks Central Victoria

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:55): (665) My adjournment is for the Minister for Health, and it concerns the desecration of a grave at the Sunbury cemetery, a cemetery under the management of Remembrance Parks Central Victoria. The desecration of a grave is a very serious incident, especially if this occurs as part of works undertaken by a cemetery trust. The action that I seek from the minister is to immediately order an investigation into the desecration of the grave of James Ness, and also to examine the competency of the RPCV cemetery trust board and its chair Marg Lewis.

The Sunbury cemetery trust has entered into an arrangement with Remembrance Parks Central Victoria for the management and operations, including maintenance and contracts, of the Sunbury cemetery. On 19 January 2024 Theresa and Dennis Ness of Romsey laid their son James to rest at the Sunbury cemetery. The circumstances of James’s death were traumatic enough for the family, as James had taken his own life, but no parent who has buried a child should be subject to what happened to the Nesses just a few days after the burial. Imagine the shock and horror Dennis Ness felt when he returned to visit his son’s grave and found the side of the grave looking like an excavation site. James’s grave and the grass area surrounding it had been dug up, and deep holes had been drilled into it. The holes had been filled with concrete and steel rods were protruding from them. Mr Ness was convinced that one of the rods had gone straight through the foot of James’s coffin, as fragments of wood and metal – that were later confirmed to be from James’s coffin – were found in the dirt on the surface of the grave.

At first both the Sunbury and RPCV trusts seemed to dispute that there had been any damage to James’s coffin, and a media release was issued stating they would have a contractor dig around the site with hand tools to establish if James’s coffin had shifted. It went on to say:

If the coffin has shifted the contractor will lift the coffin with chains… and if this shows any damage at all the coffin will undergo an exhumation process.

However, the family were not informed of this plan. The plan outlined in the media statement is extremely concerning, as it alludes to the desecration of a grave and exhumation, both of which are serious offences under the act and subject to huge fines or imprisonment.

Each of the past three years has started with a scandal that has involved RPCV. In 2022 it was the board’s plan to increase the cost of burials. The board blamed the CEO, and he departed the organisation. In 2023 it started with the desecration of graves as memorials were removed from them, and this year we have the desecration of another grave. This board is incompetent and needs to be investigated.