I’m speaking out to save our park and golf course from being turned into a cemetery

There has been no transparency, no engagement, no respect for local voices. Just a last-minute decision with sweeping consequences, made behind closed doors, writes Lynda Voltz.

The NSW Government’s quiet move to repurpose Carnarvon Golf Course and Coleman Park soccer fields as cemetery space is shortsighted, lazy, and completely out of touch with the communities it affects.

Carnarvon isn’t just a golf course — it’s one of Western Sydney’s best and busiest public courses. It provides affordable access to a sport enjoyed by a broad and diverse local community, with players whose heritage spans the subcontinent, Korea, China, and the Middle East. In a region that has long suffered from under-investment in quality public recreational facilities, Carnarvon stands out as a success story. It is well-used, inclusive, and vital.

It’s also environmentally significant. The course sits within the Haslem’s Creek catchment — an area that floods regularly — and is a crucial part of Landcare’s green canopy commitments. Choosing a site subject to flooding for cemetery use flies in the face of the NSW Government’s own planning guidelines for cemeteries and crematoria. It raises serious concerns about the rigour — or lack thereof — behind this decision. What environmental due diligence has actually been done? The answer seems to be: not enough.

Carnarvon Golf Club located in Lidcombe but could be turned into a cemetery. Picture: Thomas Lisson

Then there’s Coleman Park, home of the Lidcombe Waratahs and a key venue in Australia’s oldest district soccer competition. This is not a neglected or underused facility — it’s a busy, beloved local sports hub.

The Federal Government and Cumberland Council have committed $10 million to upgrade it. That money, and the many community benefits it promises, would be squandered if the site is rezoned for cemetery use.

Coleman Park is a much loved community sporting ground.

Even worse than the content of the proposal is the process behind it. As the local member, I learned of it not through briefings or consultation, but via a leak. The CEO of Metropolitan Memorial Parks appears to have simply drawn a 5km circle around Rookwood Cemetery and, at “five minutes to midnight,” landed on Carnarvon Golf Course. That’s not planning — it’s desperation.

There has been no transparency, no engagement, no respect for local voices. Just a last-minute decision with sweeping consequences, made behind closed doors.

This proposal is opposed by elected representatives at all three levels of government — local, state, and federal. And it’s opposed by the people who actually use these spaces, day in and day out. But the Metropolitan Memorial Parks CEO appears determined to push forward, ignoring both public interest and basic planning logic.

Lynda Voltz campaigning with then-Labor leader Chris Minns in 2022. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Yes, Sydney needs more burial space. That is a serious challenge. But solving it shouldn’t come at the cost of destroying crucial community infrastructure. Carnarvon and Coleman are more than just green patches on a map. They’re community lifelines. They host sport from cradle to grave. They’re venues for dinners, weddings, and christenings. They are social glue in a city that’s increasingly short on it.

If this proposal goes ahead, these spaces — and everything they offer — are gone for good. That loss is permanent, and it’s totally avoidable.

This isn’t just bad policy — it’s a betrayal of public trust. Western Sydney deserves better than last-minute land grabs and secretive decision-making. Our communities deserve meaningful investment, genuine consultation, and planning that reflects the value of places like Carnarvon and Coleman — not planning that erases them.

We won’t stand for it.

Lynda Voltz is the Labor MP for the state seat of Auburn