Licence Overview
The Anglican Property Trust Diocese of Bathurst holds a Cemetery Operator Category 3 Licence covering all cemetery facilities across the diocese. This is the least onerous licence category for active cemetery operators and includes the following obligations:
- Sections A1 & A2 — Use of plain-language contracts that include key details relating to the interment right.
- Section B1 — Ensuring basic cemetery maintenance is undertaken and that public access to the cemetery is available during daylight hours. If this becomes difficult for your parish, please contact the diocesan office.
- Sections D1, D3, D4 & D5 — Compliance with customer service principles, information disclosure requirements, dispute resolution processes, and maintenance of a complaints register. These requirements are addressed within the model contract. For disputes or complaints, parishes should refer matters to the diocesan office.
- Sections E1 & E2 — Compliance with religious, cultural, and spiritual principles, including those of Aboriginal communities, provided they are not contrary to the Anglican faith. If unsure, contact the diocesan office for guidance.
Internment Levy Exemption
Parishes within the Diocese of Bathurst are exempt from the internment service levy. As a result, no parish in the diocese is required to charge or remit this levy.
GST
Parishes are not exempt from GST. If your parish is registered for GST, GST must be charged on:
- The sale of interment rights, and
- Interment services (such as grave digging).
This may require an adjustment to parish pricing.
Charges associated with an Anglican funeral service remain GST-free, as has historically been the case.
Maintaining an Cemetery Operators Register
A ‘cemetery operator’s register’ describes the mandatory register every cemetery operator must keep under section 63 of the C&C Act. This register must record specific details in relation to the following activities conducted by the operator.
Where the cemetery operator grants an interment right, carries out an interment and/or establishes a memorial for an interment right, the register must include:
- the identity of each interment right holder and identify whether that holder is a joint holder of the interment right
- contact details for the holder of the interment right
- contact details for any next-of-kin or nominated secondary contact of the right holder.
Where an interment has occurred the operator must, immediately afterwards, also include on the register:
- details of the deceased, including name, age and last address before death
- date of the person’s death
- date of the interment
- cultural or religious practices, if any, that apply to the deceased person
- section and allotment where the interment occurred: this does not need to use the exact terms of ‘section’ and ‘allotment’ where there is different terminology in use to describe sites in that cemetery but does need to align with the language used to describe sites in interment rights and consumer contracts, and uniquely describe the specific interment site.
- if the relevant section or allotment of the cemetery is consecrated for use by a cultural or religious group
- the name of the person (if any) who continues to hold an interment right to that allotment
- name of the funeral director who transported the body to the cemetery
- fees paid to the cemetery authority for the burial: in this context, the cemetery authority refers to the parish.
Refer to the CCNSW guide Requirements for a Cemetery Operator’s Register to understand all obligations and requirements for maintaining a register.
Order of Internment
In addition to maintaining an internment register, parishes must complete an order for interment form before it conducts an interment at the site. Completed forms must be securely retained and archived by the parish for record-keeping purposes.
Annual Activity Reporting
The diocesan office is responsible for submitting annual internment activity reports to Cemeteries & Crematoria NSW.
Each July, parishes must provide internment numbers for the period 1 July to 30 June of the preceding financial year to support this reporting obligation.