The ACT Government is to appoint natural-burial advocate and former Greens Assembly member Caroline Le Couteur to the board of the ACT Public Cemeteries Authority.
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Natural burials in a forested part of the Gungahlin cemetery are likely to become possible in Canberra in the coming year and Ms Le Couteur's expected appointment will ensure the issue remains high on the agenda.
It also comes as the cemeteries authority struggles to cover its liability for maintaining plots into the future, and as the government has pushed back plans for a new cemetery near the Mugga Lane tip, opting instead to expand the Woden cemetery.
The government has not confirmed the appointment, with a spokesperson for the Territories and Municipal Services directorate saying five names had been put to the Assembly's planning committee for approval.
In natural burials, bodies are not embalmed and are buried using biodegradable and non-toxic materials. Burial sites are recorded but unmarked, except with shrubs or trees and engraved rocks.
Canberra Cemeteries chief executive Hamish Horne told estimates hearings in June the Gungahlin site had been chosen for natural burials, which he hoped would be available "this coming year".
A shroud, a wicker basket or other biodegradable receptacles could be used, with the idea to "encourage reasonably rapid decomposition and therefore the space can be reused again in the future".
Ms Le Couteur said her interest in natural burials had arisen partly through her responsibility as Greens spokeswoman for the portfolio in the Assembly, including visits to natural burial sites, and partly through the need to organise funerals for her own parents, who both died during the same period. She had used cardboard coffins for both, which are already an option in Canberra, but natural burials are not.
Natural burials were less environmentally damaging than cremation, and many people wanted their concern for and connection to the environment to continue after their deaths.
"Certainly for me to feel I was part of the natural environmental and I was nourishing some trees would feel a lot more like what I would want happening to me rather than have where I was buried mowed every few weeks," she said.
Ms Le Couteur confirmed her interest in the position, which she said went beyond natural burials, to encouraging more conversation about wishes and options in death, and addressing the financial challenges facing the cemeteries authority. The authority is self-funded, and when people play for a plot, it is theirs in perpetuity, the authority having responsibility for maintaining it, also in perpetuity.
"There's some significant issues in terms of making the finances work and that's one of the challenges for the trust is getting the obligations and the income to match up," she said.
In the Assembly from 2008 till 2012, she is undecided about whether to stand again in 2016.
The departmental spokesman said 15 people had applied for the board positions, with input sought from the Office of Women and the Office of Multicultural Affairs to ensure broad representation and a range of religious denominations.
The directorate did not say how many names it had put to the government, but said after government consideration, five preferred appointments had been put to the planning committee.
Territories and Municipal Services Minister Shane Rattenbury told estimates hearings the decision to expand the Woden cemetery would provide capacity for 10 more years, giving the government "a lot more flexibility" on timing for the new cemetery.
