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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-26 Daily Xml
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ENVIRONMENT, RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE: NATURAL BURIAL GROUNDS

Ms BREUER (Giles) (11:46): I move:

That the 62nd report of the committee, entitled 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 other countries, including the USA, 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, a 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 human bodies provides an opportunity to repair the environment through establishing native bush on the cleared land.

Therefore, the principal rationale for natural burial grounds is an environmental one. There are other social issues, however, 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 costs 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 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, enhance local environments and biodiversity, reduce 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 makes 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 market demand for better environmental performance in their industry. Some cemetery operators have indicated that they may develop 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 another interment style and have wide 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 natural burial grounds in South Australia where demand and suitable sites can be demonstrated.

The committee recommends that the government provides 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 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 pay tribute to the member for Fisher who initiated this inquiry. Initially, I think our committee was not terribly interested, but as we went on with the inquiry, we certainly understood and appreciated the issues involved and became quite passionate about the need and use of a natural burial ground. It is a natural way and certainly I think it has huge potential in the future. I certainly thank the many witnesses who appeared before us and who sent in submissions, and particularly I also thank the people from the Enfield cemetery, which we toured. It was a really interesting day and they went out of their way to show us around.

We looked at all aspects of burial at Enfield from the mausoleum to the potential natural burial grounds at which they are looking. It was a most interesting day for all of us. Many of us do not like to think about death too much, but certainly on this occasion it was certainly very natural and we appreciated what happens. Certainly I have a great appreciation for the people at Enfield who gave us such a great tour and really looked after us and who gave us a far greater understanding of what this is all about.

I particularly thank Penny Worland who was our research officer at the time of this inquiry. She did an excellent job. She was able to pull together information for us. It is always a tough job for research officers to be able to tame a committee of six politicians, put their thoughts into some order and produce a good report. Penny certainly did a very good job of this report. We appreciated her time with us and wish her well in the future. Of course, our committee executive officer, Phil Frensham, keeps an eye on our research officers and keeps them in line. He also did an excellent job. Even though initially we were not sure why we were conducting this inquiry, we found the inquiry quite valuable and enjoyed doing it.

I certainly hope that the government does take notice of the recommendations that the committee has come up with. I believe that earlier this week the first natural burial did occur somewhere. That is not related to this report, but I think that was the case and I am sure that the member for Fisher will comment on that. I commend this report to the house.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (11:53): I am delighted that this report from the ERD Committee is being noted because, as the Presiding Member just indicated, it is, I think, very significant. I acknowledge the support of members of that committee, including obviously the Presiding Member; the Hon. Michelle Lensink, who replaced the Hon. David Ridgway, on 24 April 2007; the Hon. Mark Parnell; the member for Schubert; and the Hon. Russell Wortley, all of whom generously accepted a submission to the committee that it inquire into natural burial grounds, which has been a passion of mine for a long time. I suppose someone might want to label me Dr Death, because I chaired the select committee on cemeteries and then was instrumental in bringing about this inquiry.

The reason for my interest is that none of us likes to think of death and we tend to put it out of our mind, but the reality is that we cannot escape it, because eventually Mother Nature catches up with us. The whole purpose of a natural burial ground (as the Presiding Member indicated), is not only an environmental one, because it offers the possibility of revegetating sites; restoring old quarries for use as natural burial grounds; and using more environmentally friendly practices, such as a shroud instead of a coffin or a wicker or cardboard coffin instead of the conventional timber coffin. It also lends itself very well to not only full burial but also the interment of cremated remains and, importantly, allowing for a new generation of disposal processes, including promession and resomation.

Promession is a freezing technique, which avoids cremation, and resomation is a chemical technique, which also avoids cremation. Cremation has become a very popular way of dealing with human remains, but it is not environmentally friendly because of the energy used, and there is a problem in disposing of ashes (contrary to what many people think).

The Presiding Member alluded to the fact that a natural burial occurred this week in Adelaide. I guess, in a strict sense, there have been natural burials before on farms and elsewhere, because the law does not prohibit people from being buried on their farm or in a rural setting (not in a township or in your backyard). I think the former member for Unley canvassed that idea when he was in here, but what happened on Monday of this week, in fact, at the Enfield cemetery does relate to our inquiry, because during our inquiry we did visit the Enfield cemetery. They showed us an area next to Folland Park, where natural burials could occur. In fact, on Monday of this week, Kevin Hartley (an undertaker who is very committed to natural burials) conducted that natural burial ceremony.

The first part of the ceremony was held in a local Lutheran church, and the burial took place in that area of open land near Folland Park, in the cemetery trust area. It involved using a shroud instead of a coffin, and I am told that a considerable number of people attended. It was reported to me that the feeling among those people was not joy, obviously, at the passing of a loved one, but recognition of the fact that at last in South Australia and in the metropolitan area we now have as an option natural burials.

I must say that over time I have had tremendous support from the Attorney-General (Hon. Michael Atkinson), the then minister for the environment, now Minister for Health (Hon. John Hill) and Minister for the Southern Suburbs, and the Hon. Paul Holloway, as Minister for Planning, who have all been very supportive of this concept and, whenever I have asked them to assist in helping to facilitate natural burials in terms of location and so on, they have all been very supportive.

The challenge in terms of creating what I call a forest of memories (natural burial grounds) will be not only in areas such as where it is now available (in the Enfield area) but in particular, down south. There is a group seeking to create a natural burial ground down at Aldinga, and I know that group has had discussions with the Minister for Planning and the Minister for the Southern Suburbs (Hon. John Hill). That will be a great thing when that occurs down south as an additional option.

Natural burials are not for everyone; they are an option. As I say, they are more ecologically friendly. They do offer the possibility of permanency, and that is my great wish. It is not available currently at Enfield. The burial this week was a 99-year lease. I want to see natural burial grounds where the person's remains are untouched forever; that would be the ideal.

I thank the research officer, Ms Penny Worland, and the executive officer, Mr Philip Frensham, for their help in helping to bring about the conclusion of this report. I think this heralds a new era. I receive inquiries every week from people who want this option, and I think that we have to ensure that funeral directors make this option available to people at a time of obvious distress, and not suggest—as has been happened in the UK—that this is only for people who are hippies. This is a low cost option and it offers the chance for permanency, rather than a 50-year lease.

Debate adjourned.

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