MITCHELL: New Cemetery Trust Chair needed – MLC
The State Government must appoint a new Chair to the board of Remembrance Parks Central Victoria Trust when the current Chair’s term ends, says Northern Victoria MLC Wendy Lovell.
The RPCVT looks after a number of cemeteries including Donnybrook.
The current chair of Remembrance Parks Central Victoria was appointed in September 2020, and her term ends on 28 February 2025.
“This presents an opportunity for new leadership and a fresh start for the trouble-plagued cemetery trust,” said Ms Lovell.
“During her tenure, the chair has presided over a series of governance failures at the cemetery trust.
“The trust has failed to meet the general meeting and annual reporting requirements for a public entity, during an ongoing series of operational scandals.
“It is a statutory obligation, set down in the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003, that a Class A cemetery trust must “hold an annual meeting before December 30 in each calendar year” and must “make the cemetery trust’s most recent annual report available”.
But RPCV has repeatedly failed in these two basic obligations, Ms Lovell said.
“The last annual report lodged by the trust was 2021-22, and no annual report for the trust has been released for 2022-23, or for 2023-24.
“During this time the trust also failed to hold annual general meetings on time, or at all.
“This means the board has completely avoided public scrutiny and accountability at the very time that its cemeteries have been involved in a series of operational scandals,” Ms Lovell said.