Parliamentary Committees

ENVIRONMENT, RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE: NATURAL BURIAL GROUNDS

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:57): I move:

That the report of the committee on natural burial grounds be noted.

Natural burial grounds have been promoted as providing an environmentally responsible, modern burial practice. The concept originated in the United Kingdom, and natural burial grounds have now been developed in a number of countries, including the United States, New Zealand and the Netherlands. A natural burial ground is a place where human burial takes place in a biodegradable coffin or shroud and a tree, shrub or wildflowers are planted as a memorial instead of a headstone. Essentially, it is a type of green cemetery, where the occasion of death and the burial of a human body provides an opportunity to repair the environment through establishing native bush on cleared land. Therefore, the principal rationale for natural burial grounds is an environmental one.

However, there are other social issues which are driving interest in this approach to burial. For example, when this inquiry began many members of the public contacted the committee out of concern about the current system of interment rights and the cost of renewing leases. This is likely to become a greater social issue as the lack of land available in existing cemeteries leads to increasing rates of grave reuse. There is a need to provide land for burial and the disposal of cremated remains, and this need will increase in the coming decades due to our ageing population.

Natural burial grounds are a proposed new way of meeting this need. They are an innovative approach to cemetery management and may provide multiple benefits to the South Australian public. Natural burial grounds can be incorporated into public open space and be linked to the metropolitan open space system. Natural burial grounds can contribute to a number of social and environmental objectives, including more urban green space for passive recreation, enhanced local environments and biodiversity, and reduced carbon emissions, as well as the burial of human remains.

Natural burial grounds are an expression of contemporary western culture. For natural burial advocates it is the linking of death and funeral practices to environmental and social benefits that make the idea so appealing. For them, natural burial grounds represent both greater choice in funeral arrangements and the chance to contribute positively to the environment.

The committee believes that members of the funeral industry are committed to providing high quality services that meet the needs of their customers. As business operators, they will respond to the market demand for better environmental performance in their industry. Some cemetery operators have indicated that they may allocate small areas for natural burial within their cemeteries as another interment option available to the customer. Dedicated natural burial grounds, however, provide more than just an interment style. They have wider environmental and social objectives.

This level of innovation is unlikely to be provided by the market alone. The community is likely to be limited in its capacity to realise these positive outcomes unless natural burial grounds are given government assistance. Therefore, the committee recommends that the government facilitate the natural burial grounds in South Australia where demand and suitable sites can be demonstrated. The committee recommends that the government provide public land, along with financial and technical support, to enable this approach to be tested in South Australian conditions.

The government should also consider incorporating natural burial grounds as a secondary use in areas designated for revegetation as buffers between conservation and other land uses and for public open space reserves. This may provide the opportunity to introduce natural burial grounds without great additional expense on land dedicated to compatible uses. The great innovation of natural burial grounds is that they allow many public benefits to be gained simultaneously.

As the South Australian population ages and the available burial plots are used, especially in southern Adelaide, it is timely to consider the issues of available land for burial, alternative interment styles and changing community expectations. I commend the report to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens.