Anglican Bishop Richard Condie labels Tasmanian Government’s changes to Burial Act a ‘death tax’

EXCLUSIVE: Tasmanians face a new $20,000 “death tax” under the State Government’s proposed changes to the Burial and Cremation Act, Bishop Richard Condie says.

Tasmanian Anglican Bishop Richard Condie outside the St Lukes Church at Latrobe. PICTURE CHRIS KIDD

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TASMANIA’S Anglican Church has been accused of “scaremongering” after its bishop labelled the State Government’s proposed changes to the Burial and Cremation Act a “de facto death tax”.

The government, opposition and the Save Our Community Souls group have blasted Bishop Richard Condie claims that Tasmanians could be forced to fork out up to $20,000 for burial plots under the new laws.

But the bishop hit back and said it wasn’t scaremongering but simply what it was going to cost to be buried in an Anglican cemetery.

“For the last 150 years we’ve been able to run cemeteries under the current Act in an affordable way for people and these provisions are going to make that unsustainable,” Dr Condie said.

David Downie. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

“We’ve been trying to have a conversation with the government about this — we need the community to know how much this is going to impact them.”

State Attorney-General Elise Archer said there was no tax and only the church could decide how to price their plots.

“It is disappointing that such an important issue to communities across Tasmania has now become the subject of scaremongering,” she said.

“The Government expects the Anglican Church would have engaged with the consultation process in good faith.”

Labor’s Michelle O’Byrne said it was a “bit rich” for the church to criticise other people for making money out of the issue when it planned to keep the most of the money from its asset sales.

“The Anglican Church decided to sell a vast amount of properties to raise a reasonably large amount of money which only a small amount is going to redress,” she said.

“I think the Anglican Church probably needs to have a bit of a look at itself and its own motivations before criticising a piece of legislation I genuinely think we can resolve.”

Northern Midlands Mayor and Save Our Community Souls chairman David Downie said there were concerns about the cost of burials under the proposed changes but the bishop’s comments were “not constructive”.

Mr Downie said grave prices should be pegged to existing levels and legislated to only increase by CPI.

“It cuts out people behaving in a monopolistic way,” he said. “Where did the Bishop get the figure of $20,000 from? The Diocese is participating in scaremongering.”

He said the sale decision needed to be delayed until the legislation had passed both houses of parliament.

“There needs to be a settling down period, we don’t need the angst level of community members increased by unsubstantiated claims,” Mr Downie said.

Southern Midlands Mayor Tony Bisdee said a regulator or the director of Local Government should be given the power to control and approve price increases for burial plots.

The Anglican Church said the shift of responsibility for burial plots from the family to a body corporate would require a sufficient fee to be charged to maintain cemeteries, drastically increasing the cost of a grave from between $500 to $1000 to as high as $20,000.

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EARLIER: TASMANIANS face a new $20,000 “death tax” under the State Government’s proposed changes to the Burial and Cremation Act, Bishop Richard Condie says.

The state’s Anglican bishop told the Sunday Tasmanian the shift of responsibility for burial plots from the family to a body corporate would require a sufficient fee to be charged to maintain cemeteries.

Dr Condie said it would lift the cost of a grave from between $500 to $1000 to as high as $20,000.

“Should the Amendment Bill proceed in its current form there will be an unintended consequence that most Tasmanians will find it unaffordable to be buried with their loved ones or in their local cemetery,” he said.

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“Our sums indicate this will cost approximately $140 per plot per year for 125 years, or $17,500.

“This will effectively function like a de facto death tax on the residents of rural and regional Tasmania.”

Dr Condie said increasing the length of time from the last burial before a cemetery could be closed, from 30 to 100 years, was the largest contributor to the increased cost.

“The only way to manage this liability for the anticipated life of the cemetery would be to charge those funds upfront,” he said.

In June, the Anglican Diocesan Council voted to sell 108 properties, including 76 churches, to help to fund a redress scheme for victims of childhood abuse.

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Bishop Richard Condie. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

In response to the significant community concern about the sale of graveyards, the Government committed to legislative changes to preserve, protect and strengthen the obligations on cemetery managers.

The proposed changes to the Act require new cemetery managers to be a body corporate with perpetual succession and not private individuals.

But it does not include a price ceiling, meaning cemetery managers would be free to charge families exorbitant fees to bury their loved ones.

This could mean people wanting to be buried next to a relative in a cemetery about to be sold by the Anglican Church would be taken advantage of because they don’t want to be buried elsewhere.

Attorney-General Elise Archer said that when she released the draft bill, body corporates removed the risk of private individuals not being able “to continue managing the cemetery due to illness or death”.

The deadline for feedback on the draft legislation closes today.

The Diocesan Council will make a final decision on land sales in December.

The Government said it would introduce the changes into Parliament before the end of the year to meet the church’s time frame.

Anglican parishioners have urged the church to delay the sales until April next year to relieve community stress and allow for clarity around the new legislation.

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