Legislative Council Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Answers to Questions Adelaide Cemeteries Authority ADELAIDE CEMETERIES AUTHORITY The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD Legislative Council ADELAIDE CEMETERIES AUTHORITY In reply to the Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (28 October 2010). The Hon. G.E. GAGO Legislative Council Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises ADELAIDE CEMETERIES AUTHORITY The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises): I am advised that: 1.	There is no legislation in South Australia expressly dealing with the ownership of burial monuments, and the application of the common law to burial monuments has not yet been tested in this State. During the recent consultations with industry stakeholders for the re-making of the Local Government (Cemetery) Regulations 2010, I received several submissions from cemetery authorities and others on the matter of disposal of unwanted cemetery monuments. The Government resolved to remedy the situation by making a new regulation, provided certain conditions are met, to permit a cemetery authority to dispose of an unclaimed memorial that is no longer marking a licensed interment site. The conditions required are that: two years or more have elapsed since the interment right expired; the authority has made reasonable efforts to contact relatives of any person named on the memorial (including by placing a public notice in a newspaper circulating throughout the State, by letter to known relatives and by notice affixed to the memorial); and no person has claimed the monument at least six months after publication of the public notice. The new Regulations came into effect on September 1, 2010.