Wagga councilors have received dozens of phone calls from distraught relatives as the council considers its approach to regulations that would allow graves to be reused.
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The NSW Government’s Cemetery and Crematoria Regulation would allow cemeteries to remove human remains and memorials if family members did not renew a 25 to 99-year lease on a burial plot.
Deputy mayor Dallas Tout told Monday night’s meeting that he had been contacted by “very agitated” relatives concerned about whether their deceased loved ones’ graves would be disturbed.
“I’ve had phone calls not just from Wagga but from other towns who have people buried in Wagga, who were very upset,” he said.
Cr Tout said the distress “did not need to happen” and the way in which the issue was handled, via a council agenda published last week, had been a “severe learning experience”.
Cr Paul Funnell said a woman aged in her 80s was one of about 20 people who contacted him over the issue.
“She called me at 6am on Saturday not having slept the night before worried about her son who died 43 years ago,” Cr Funnell said.
Wagga City Council has yet to form a policy in response to the state cemetery regulations and staff are preparing a report for councillors.
Councillors amended the motion to include that the council had “no intention to proceed with leasing burial plots”.
Cr Funnell thanked Cr Dan Hayes for raising the issue but claimed there was an element of state election “politicking” in his notice of motion.
Cr Hayes did not respond to these claims in the chamber, but he did apologise for causing any upset.
“The intent was to give the very clear message that this was not something we were adopting here,” he said.