More Time Needed for Cemetery Submissions

12 June 2014

Allowing late submissions on changes to Auckland’s cemeteries and crematoria bylaw till 5pm today is welcome but the timeframe is way too short, says the Funeral Directors Association.

Chief Executive Katrina Shanks says when her association called for submissions to be re-opened it envisaged that to be for longer than barely two days.

“At least they have listened, but announcing yesterday that they would accept late submissions till 5pm today is not long enough for some organisations to meet to formulate policy and wording around a submission.

“Surely the council could have given them a couple more days, say till Monday. That would give time for considered submissions to be compiled.

“What the council is proposing caught many people and groups on the hop, with most knowing nothing about it until the Funeral Directors Association brought it to their attention.

“When we made our own submission we were unaware the council had not consulted ethnic groups.

“Many are rightly upset at some of the proposed changes. For example, limiting the number of people present when a casket is placed into a cremator would affect 5000 years of Hindu custom, yet the Indian community was not consulted. It’s also part of Samoan culture that families fill in the grave but there was little or no consultation with their organisations. These are just two examples.

“There has been little consideration for families or cultural practices throughout this process, and it’s time the council showed a little more sensitivity and gave people a decent timeframe to have their say.”

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