Bureaucrats call for ban on Catholic cemetery deal

A plan to hand over control of the most valuable parts of the Sydney’s $1b cemetery sector to the Catholic Church has been slammed by senior bureaucrats.

Two senior government officials have issued fresh warnings about handing over control of the city’s cemeteries to the Catholic Church.

Emails obtained by The Sunday Telegraph reveal officials within Investment NSW and the Department of Planning last week advised ministers to appoint one government body, known as OneCrown, to administer the assets of Sydney cemeteries.

The emails were sent in response to numerous senior government ministers pushing for the “additional option” of having the Catholic Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust remaining separate from OneCrown.

Catholic Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust’s Varroville landscape cemetery, to be known as Macarthur Memorial Park.

This move would hand control of the administration of the city’s most profitable future cemeteries – Varroville and Wallacia – to the CMCT, which is linked with the Catholic Church.

“Based on our understanding of the proposed additional option, this additional option does not deliver additional benefit to the NSW Government or to the people of NSW relative to the preferred option,” the INSW email said.

“In addition, the new option would cost significantly more than the preferred option previously put forward, making it difficult to demonstrate value for money.”

The advice again raised issues with the state government having “direct dealing” with the church during their negotiations about a government asset – a potential breach of ICAC legislation.

There has been no tender process to hand the administration of crown cemetery assets to the church.

In a dramatic intervention, however, the church has sought the advice of high-profile barrister Geoffrey Watson SC.

Sydney barrister Geoffrey Watson.

Church spokesman Tim Allerton said: “The CMCT has received written advice from Geoffrey Watson SC that there is no issue of ‘direct dealing’ with the government in regard to the negotiations, which is the focus of the latest attempts to undermine the NSW Government’s commitment to ensure the ongoing delivery of burial spaces for the people of Sydney.”

Mr Allerton also said the CMCT provides services for more 30 faith groups and has been running cemeteries for 150 years.

The Lebanese Muslim Association, which conducts thousands of Muslim burials every year, remain opposed to the CMCT gaining control.

Because they are operating under expiring legislation, the CMCT’s was due to be dissolved September 30.

However, Housing Minister Melinda Pavey granted the church an extension to December 30.

In early September lawyers representing the LMA told Premier Gladys Berejiklian that if that extension was granted, they “will have no choice but to seek a referral to ICAC and/or an application to the Supreme Court”.

The sector is worth $1 billion and the 11th Hour report, which was commissioned by the Department of Planning, said the sector will have $600m in excess capital by 2038.

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Originally published as Bureaucrats call for ban on Catholic cemetery deal