Councillors have moved quickly to reassure people that digging up remains after as little as 25 years to reuse grave sites is highly unlikely to happen in Wagga.
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Community reaction to council even listing the issue on its agenda for Monday night’s meeting has brought a swift and negative reaction.
Wagga man Wayne Deaner said he had calls from people living as far away as Queensland, asking what was going to happen to their loved ones’ graves.
“I’ve had about 10 calls from worried people,” Mr Deaner said.
Lynne Bodell from the Wagga Ratepayers’ Community Forum warned that the issue was contentious and council needed to seek community opinions before making any decisions on a policy.
Father Brendan Lee said digging up graves would not only cause major concerns for many practicing Christians, but also to people who wanted to see their loved ones remain interred and undisturbed.
Changes to the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act passed in 2018 now allow graves to effectively be “rented” for period of between 25 and 99 years. After the set period expires, relatives of the deceased would have to pay an additional fee. If not, remains would be put into a communal “bone room” and the patch of ground re-let.
Councillors are being asked to consider whether the city should develop a policy on the plan. Under the legislation, they do not have to adopt any change.
Several councillors told The Daily Advertiser that feedback from residents had been strongly against any change to current burial arrangements.
No councillor has spoken in favour of change.
Councillor Dan Hayes raised the issue in response to what he said was community uncertainty about the amended laws.
He is opposed to any changes to current Wagga arrangements, but believed the council should have a firm policy in place because of the legislative changes.
“There has been some confusion on this issue and people want peace of mind,” Cr Hayes said.
“I think we will be able to put this issue to bed very quickly.”
Cr Paul Funnell said the people who had approached him on the issue had been “livid”.
Wagga mayor Greg Conkey said he did not support any changes to the city’s current arrangements and was not expecting any rethink to even be considered.
