Overview of cemeteries sector restructure

Overview

The Government has announced a number of changes to the 10 major metropolitan and 4 regional cemetery trusts that report to Parliament under the Financial Management Act 1994.

These changes primarily affect the 10 reporting trusts in the metropolitan area (namely Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park, Altona Memorial Park , Keilor Cemetery Trust, Preston Cemetery Trust, Wyndham Cemeteries Trust, Anderson 's Creek Cemetery Trust, Lilydale Cemetery Trust and Templestowe Cemetery Trust, Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries Trust and the Necropolis).

The Ballarat General Cemeteries Trust, Bendigo Cemeteries Trust, Geelong Cemeteries Trust and Mildura Cemetery Trust will also experience some change.

No other cemetery trusts in metropolitan Melbourne or rural and regional Victoria will be affected by these changes.

The key changes are as follows:

(i) Metropolitan Cemetery Trusts

Two new major metropolitan cemetery trusts will be created by restructuring the ten metropolitan trusts that report to Parliament under the Financial Management Act.

One new trust will cover the north, west and eastern metropolitan areas. It will be made up of Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park, Altona Memorial Park , Keilor Cemetery Trust, Preston Cemetery Trust, Wyndham Cemeteries Trust, Anderson 's Creek Cemetery Trust, Lilydale Cemetery Trust and Templestowe Cemetery Trust.

The second trust will cover the southern metropolitan areas and will include Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries Trust and the Necropolis.

These two new cemetery trusts will be made up of professional remunerated trust members and will have chairpersons appointed by the Government.

Like public health service boards, these new trusts will have between six and nine members who will be appointed for a maximum term of up to three years. These trusts will have an enhanced statutory role, including a leadership role to assist the other cemetery trusts in their areas.

(ii) Regional Cemetery Trusts

Like the new metropolitan trusts, the Ballarat, Bendigo , Geelong and Mildura Cemetery trusts will also be given enhanced statutory responsibilities, including a formal leadership role which will involve guiding and assisting the volunteer rural and regional trusts in their areas. There will be no restructure of these trusts.

This will provide opportunities for many smaller volunteer rural and regional trusts to access business advice on a regional basis. In future, the members of these large regional trusts will also be paid and the chairpersons of the trusts will be appointed by the government.

It is proposed that the existing trust members at Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong will be invited to fill these expanded roles initially. Mildura is a special case as the Mildura cemetery is currently managed by the Mildura City Council. The Department of Human Services has begun discussions with the Council about the transfer of responsibility for this cemetery to a newly created public cemetery trust.

Changes will be made to the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act to ensure that the major cemetery trusts in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria have the same governance framework and statutory roles and responsibilities. The legislative changes will also strengthen the regulatory environment for both the metropolitan and regional cemetery trusts.

Why is the Government proposing to make these changes?

The structural changes to the metropolitan trusts are designed to strengthen their capacity to plan for and provide cemetery services which meet the changing needs of the community into the future.

The two new metropolitan trusts will be of a similar economic size and scale. They will be able to reap the benefits of economies of scale such as improved integrated business systems, better purchasing power and reduction in costs relating to development of products and services for their communities.

Following reports by the Auditor-General and the State Services Authority into the sustainability of Victoria 's cemetery sector, the Government recognises that it is no longer appropriate to rely on volunteers to govern these large public sector cemeteries in metropolitan and regional Victoria .

The two new metropolitan trusts and the regional trusts affected will be well positioned to provide leadership and support to smaller trusts in their areas and to play a leadership role in the cemeteries sector as a whole.