Readers may have noticed stories concerning Minister Pavey handing the operation of graveyards to the NSW Public Service.
The NSW State Government’s Cabinet on 7 June 2021 put the whole take-over of Sydney cemeteries back into ‘discussions’ to buy time. The Roman Catholic Church is in Court with the Government, it has taken full page advertisements in major metropolitan papers, is running an on-line petition and is preparing to run a ‘Greyhound’ style campaign against the Government. The Jewish faith and the Islamic faith are supporting the Roman Catholic Church. The People of the Book have united in the issue of looking after the dead.
People in regional and rural NSW might think this is a big city problem. Not so, as the Statutory Review Minister Pavey is using to give her ‘righteousness’ in the matter calls for an interment plan for regional councils that would impose a perpetual care impost on them. This might be up to $1B for all NSW.
Just as importantly, news stories have omitted a few salient facts.
The Catholic Church put up a smart and financially sound model that would have rescued the solvency of the graveyards at the commercial risk of the Church but bringing with them the Jewish Church and the Islamic groups.
Operating graveyards has been a financial nightmare for all but the Roman Catholic Church. Their cemeteries are in good shape, and they have land to deal with future needs. What the Roman Catholic Church did was put a proposal together that took the troubled cemeteries, amalgamated the operations with a projected profit within the charity in a few years whilst bankrolling the whole project. One would have thought, problem solved. Solvency and ground space has been a problem for longer than the life of the current NSW State Government.
What went wrong?
The Minister seems to have regarded herself as the God of Second Isaiah; full of ‘righteousness’ and ‘salvation’. But she has shown she is anything but. Handing an insolvent operation to the NSW Public Service to be made solvent and a solid business venture reveals a level of unreality.
Yes, you can get up off the floor from the side-splitting mirth at the idea that the NSW Public Service could turn around an insolvent business, let alone run one. When have they not had a project run over time and cost?
The decision by the Minister truly is one that taxes death and will as the only remedy in the short term lead to the privatisation of graveyards.
Macquarie Bank must be looking on with glee, given it operates most of the front end of the death business, the undertakers. The back end is coming its way. Maybe this is the real plan of the secular-driven NSW Public Service, remove the God of the Book from all aspects of death. None of Mark 12:17. For those who have not seen the outside or inside of a bible for a while: “And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him” KJV. No, none of this.
Remove God and start taxing! Then do a special deal with the big end of town. Minister, not too much consumer benefit in this one, in spite of what you put in your glorious spin spoon-feed by your mandarins. The Blind Man in John 9 before he was given sight, if alive today, would have understood what you are doing.
But it gets even more interesting. The Catholic Church arrangement had been informally approved at NSW Government level.
So, a bit like Genesis 1:31: “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day”. The NSW people of the faiths of the Book were in business.
But then all was disturbed. A government backbench MP threatened the Government with a real minority government. The rest is history. You unbelievers, look to the chronology of the news headlines and local protests and reflect! Then consider Genesis 3:22-24 for what happened next to the Government.
The People of the Book rose up against them. Concurrently, Chris Minns was elected Leader of the Opposition.
Maybe Minister Pavey, who seemingly sought to be the God of righteousness and salvation, of Second Isaiah, might be the one who turned the NSW Government out of the political Garden of Eden for the being the Government. If Minister Pavey does not amend her ways, she could understand the words of Genesis in the context of a political defeat at the hands of a Minns lead ALP.
So, the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden and made them cultivate the soil from which they had been formed. Then at the east side of the garden he put living creatures and a flaming sword which turned in all directions. This was to keep anyone from coming near the tree that gives life. (Genesis 3: 23 – 24, Good News Translation.)
If this might be so, the Minister had best leave behind her faux ‘righteousness and salvation’ and look to the words of Mathew 8: 22, for there she will find salvation in this issue.
Related story: Consolidation of Crown cemetery operators
