Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been urged to use National Cabinet to stop the use of unmarked communal graves to bury impoverished Australians and address failings that are leaving family and friends blindsided. Source: The Guardian.
The Guardian’s revelations yesterday that unmarked, communal graves were being used, in some cases without notifying the families of the deceased, prompted widespread political condemnation, including from federal Liberal MPs, state Labor ministers, and the Greens.
The New South Wales government committed to an urgent review of the practice.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said he had not been previously aware of the way the graves were being used by his government.
He has tasked his department to explore reforms, including emulating the Victorian model, where individuals are buried with their own plot and marking, a process that costs just $3000 per funeral.
“I think it’s something that we need to do better,” Mr Park said. “Quite clearly, the dignity of those who have … passed, as well as for their families, is something that we need to take into consideration, and we need to do this better.”
Independent senator David Pocock urged Mr Albanese to raise the issue at National Cabinet and seek a uniform agreement across states and territories to ensure dignified burials and a basic standard of notification to families, friends, and others associated with the deceased.
“Being poor in a country as wealthy as Australia should not condemn you to an unmarked communal grave,” he said.
“While I appreciate that this may not be at the top of most people’s list of daily concerns, how we treat our most vulnerable, including in death, goes to our values and who we are as a country.”
Vietnam veterans, rough sleepers, people with gambling addictions and migrants from developing countries have been buried together at Rookwood cemetery in western Sydney, with each plot often holding between four and six unrelated people.
Federal shadow minister for defence personnel Phillip Thompson described the burials of war veterans as “deeply concerning”.
Mr Park has accepted that past failings are “unacceptable” and NSW Health has apologised, acknowledging that it has not always treated those without financial means with the dignity and respect they are entitled to.
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PM called on to act on communal grave revelations as NSW commits to urgent review (The Guardian)
