Wednesday, 31 July 2024

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (12:51): (987) My question is for the Minister for Health. Minister, will you reverse the government’s massive hike in the cost of a burial at Shepparton’s public cemetery? On 1 July 2024 the fees at the Shepparton Public Cemetery jumped remarkably. Funeral directors advise me that the gazetted fee rise has increased the total cost of internments by up to 438 per cent. I have been informed that these price increases were not requested by the cemetery trust but were imposed by the Victorian Department of Health. The department’s official manual for cemetery trusts states that fees should be consistent, transparent, affordable and aligned with community expectations, but these new and increased fees are not affordable and do not align with community expectations in a regional town with a socio-economic profile like Shepparton’s. The price rises are exorbitant and unconscionable, and I call on the minister to reverse these fee hikes and instead align the fee increase with the CPI.