Untitled document

Cemeteries and Crematoria Amendment (Veterans Reform) Act 2015

No. 4 of 2015

table of provisions

Section  Page

1Purpose

2Commencement

3Principal Act

4Definitions

5Cemetery trust to offer to convert 25 year limited right of interment

6Cemetery trust may remove cremated human remains and memorial

7New section 86A inserted

8New section 110A inserted

9Repeal of amending Act

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Endnotes

1      General information

Cemeteries and Crematoria Amendment (Veterans Reform) Act 2015

No. 4 of 2015

[Assented to 25 March 2015]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

1Purpose

The main purpose of this Act is to amend the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 to provide for—

(a)the conversion of a right of interment for interring cremated human remains of deceased identified veterans for 25 years to a perpetual right of interment; and

(b)the re-interment of cremated human remains of deceased identified veterans and their family members in specified circumstances.

2Commencement

(1)Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.

(2)If a provision of this Act does not come into operation before 1 February 2016, it comes into operation on that day.

3Principal Act

In this Act, the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 is called the Principal Act.

4Definitions

(1)In section 3(1) of the Principal Act, in paragraph (d) of the definition of transfer, for "assignment." substitute "assignment;".

(2)In section 3(1) of the Principal Act insert the following definitions—

"domestic partner of a person means—

(a)a person who is in a registered relationship with the person; or

(b)an adult person to whom the person is not married but with whom the person is in a relationship as a couple where one or each of them provides personal or financial commitment and support of a domestic nature for the material benefit of the other, irrespective of their genders and whether or not they are living under the same roof, but does not include a person who provides domestic support and personal care to the person—

(i)for fee or reward; or

(ii)on behalf of another person or an organisation (including a government or government agency, a body corporate or a charitable or benevolent organisation);

family member, in relation to a deceased identified veteran, means—

(a)a spouse or domestic partner of the deceased identified veteran; or

(b)a child of the deceased identified veteran, including a stepchild or an adopted child; or

(c)a parent of the deceased identified veteran;

spouse of a person means a person to whom that person is married;

veteran means a person who has performed service or duty within the meaning of the Veterans Act 2005.".

(3)After section 3(2) of the Principal Act insert—

"(3)For the purposes of the definition of domestic partner in subsection (1)—

(a)registered relationship has the same meaning as in the Relationships Act 2008; and

(b)in determining whether persons who are not in a registered relationship are domestic partners of each other, all the circumstances of their relationship are to be taken into account, including any one or more of the matters referred to in section 35(2) of the Relationships Act 2008 as may be relevant in a particular case; and

(c)a person is not a domestic partner of another person only because they are co-tenants.".

5Cemetery trust to offer to convert 25 year limited right of interment

(1)In section 85(2)(b) of the Principal Act—

(a)for "if the right" substitute "unless the right of interment relates to cremated human remains of a deceased identified veteran, if the right";

(b)for "human remains." substitute "human remains; and".

(2)After section 85(2)(b) of the Principal Act insert—

"(c)in the case of a right of interment that relates to cremated human remains of a deceased identified veteran, if that right is not extended or converted to a perpetual right of interment, the cemetery trust may—

(i)leave those interred cremated human remains undisturbed in perpetuity and convert the right of interment to a perpetual right of interment; or

(ii)remove those interred cremated human remains from their current place of interment and re-inter them at another location within the cemetery grounds and—

(A)remove any memorial at the current place of interment; and

(B)re-establish the memorial at the location of the re-interment or establish a new equivalent memorial at that location.".

6Cemetery trust may remove cremated human remains and memorial

(1)In section 86 of the Principal Act, for "If a cemetery" substitute "Subject to subsections (2) and (3), if a cemetery".

(2)At the end of section 86 of the Principal Act insert—

"(2)Subject to subsection (3), if a cemetery trust has given notification under section 85 and no action has been taken by the holder of the right of interment within the time limits specified by the cemetery trust, the cemetery trust may—

(a)leave those interred cremated human remains undisturbed; or

(b)convert the right of interment to a perpetual right of interment.

(3)If a cemetery trust has given notification under section 85 and no action has been taken by the holder of the right of interment within the time limits specified by the cemetery trust and the interred cremated remains are those of a deceased identified veteran, the cemetery trust may—

(a)leave those interred cremated human remains undisturbed in perpetuity and convert the right of interment to a perpetual right of interment; or

(b)remove those interred cremated human remains from their current place of interment and re-inter them at another location within the cemetery grounds and—

(i)remove any memorial at the current place of interment; and

(ii)re-establish the memorial at the location of the re-interment or establish a new equivalent memorial at that location.

(4)Subject to subsection (5), if a cemetery trust removes cremated human remains of a deceased identified veteran from a place of interment and re-inters those cremated human remains under subsection (3)(b), the cemetery trust may—

(a)remove from their current place of interment—

(i)any cremated human remains that were interred in the same place of interment as the cremated human remains of the deceased identified veteran; or

(ii)any cremated human remains of a family member of the deceased identified veteran that were interred in a place of interment in the vicinity of the place of interment of the cremated human remains of the deceased identified veteran; and

(b)re-inter those cremated human remains—

(i)at the location where the cremated human remains of the deceased identified veteran are re-interred; or

(ii)at another location within the cemetery grounds that is in the vicinity of the location where the cremated human remains of the deceased identified veteran are re‑interred in a manner that is similar to that in which they were originally interred; and

(c)remove any memorial at the current place of interment of the cremated human remains of the family member; and

(d)re-establish the memorial at the location of the re-interment or establish a new equivalent memorial at that location.

(5)A cemetery trust must not take any action under subsection (4) unless, in relation to any right of interment that relates to the current place of interment of cremated human remains referred to in subsection (4)(a)—

(a)the cemetery trust has given—

(i)notification under section 85, in the case of a 25 year limited right of interment; or

(ii)written notification to each holder of the right of interment affected and sought the consent of each holder to the removal of the remains, in the case of a perpetual right of interment; and

(b)no action has been taken by the holder of the right of interment within the time limits specified by the cemetery trust.

(6)If a cemetery trust re-inters cremated human remains under subsection (3) or (4), the right of interment that applies to the new place of interment is a perpetual right of interment.".

7New section 86A inserted

After section 86 of the Principal Act insert—

"86A   Cemetery trust holds certain rights of interment relating to cremated human remains of deceased identified veterans

(1)If a cemetery trust converts a right of interment to a perpetual right under section 86(3)(a) in relation to cremated human remains of a deceased identified veteran—

(a)the right of interment is held by the cemetery trust; and

(b)the cemetery trust is responsible for the maintenance of that place of interment and any memorial at that place of interment.

(2)If a cemetery trust removes interred cremated human remains from their current place of interment and re-inters those remains under section 86(3)(b) or (4)—

(a)the right of interment that applies to the new place of interment at which those cremated human remains are re-interred is held by the cemetery trust; and

(b)the cemetery trust is responsible for the maintenance of that place of interment and any memorial at that place of interment.".

8New section 110A inserted

After section 110 of the Principal Act insert—

"110A   Cemetery trust may establish, repair or maintain memorial or place of interment of deceased identified veterans

Despite section 110, a cemetery trust may use cemetery trust funds or other funds for the purposes of—

(a)the maintenance, repair or restoration of any memorial or place of interment of cremated human remains of any deceased identified veteran; or

(b)the establishment of any memorial in relation to any deceased identified veteran equivalent to any memorial it replaces.".

9Repeal of amending Act

This Act is repealed on 1 February 2017.

Note

The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).

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Endnotes

1   General information

See for Victorian Bills, Acts and current authorised versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.

Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 11 February 2015

Legislative Council: 26 February 2015

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003 in relation to certain rights of interment for cremated human remains and for other purposes."