The Minister for City Services has announced Canberra is to receive a new public-operated crematorium.
The Minister, Chris Steel said that during recent consultations, a strong view was put forward that cemeteries and crematoria services were a public service and should be provided by Government.
Mr Steel said an ACT Cemeteries Authority would be appointed to build and operate the new public crematorium at Gungahlin Cemetery.
“A key finding from the community was that some religious communities in Canberra do not have their needs met when it comes to burial and cremation, particularly our Hindu, Sikh and Jain communities,” Mr Steel said.
“As an inclusive and welcoming city this is not good enough.”
He said the ACT was the only State or Territory where its primary cemeteries were “interment only”.
He said the Territory had one privately owned crematorium that was to serve a population of approximately 425,000.
“The ACT’s current cremation rate is 75 per cent,” Mr Steel said.
“[In comparison] NSW had 49 crematoriums at 30 June 2016 which is equivalent to one crematorium per 155,000 population and a cremation rate of 66 per cent.”
He said the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission would set prices for the public crematorium and competitive neutrality principles would apply.
“Work will soon commence in progressing design and construction of the facility, to be operated by ACT Cemeteries Authority,” Mr Steel said.
