Anthony Albanese has been urged to use national cabinet to stop the use of unmarked communal graves to bury impoverished Australians and address failings that are leaving family and friends blindsided. Guardian Australia’s revelations on Tuesday that unmarked, communal graves were being used, in some cases without notifying the families of the deceased, prompted widespread political condemnation on Tuesday, including from federal Liberal MPs, state Labor ministers, and the Greens. The New South Wales government committed to an urgent review of the practice.
The health minister, Ryan Park, said he had not been previously aware of the way the graves were being used by his government. He has tasked his department to explore reforms, including emulating the Victorian model, where individuals are buried with their own plot and marking, a process that costs just $3,000 per funeral. Shadow minister for defence personnel Phillip Thompson described the burials of war veterans as “deeply concerning”.
NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson called on the NSW government to urgently examine whether its model for identifying the friends and family of deceased persons had “the people, resources and safeguards” necessary. Park has accepted that past failings are “unacceptable” and NSW Health has apologised, acknowledging that it has not always treated those without financial means with the dignity and respect they are entitled to. That includes reforms to better work with loved ones, funeral service providers and partner agencies to “assess and manage deceased persons without financial means”.
The government has also signalled greater cooperation with community and charity groups to seek funeral funding, after the Guardian revealed at least 18 people known to homelessness services had been buried in unmarked and communal graves without the sector’s knowledge. The rules require the government to do whatever it can to contact family, friends and others associated with the deceased before burying or cremating them, to check if they want to fund alternative funerals. Responsibility for that process had been shared between NSW Health and police until 2025.
Reforms last year gave NSW Health Pathology responsibility for the process when deaths occurred in the community or in cases before the coroner, replacing police. Park said the changes made since 2025 were significant in establishing a more “person-centred approach to ensure all deceased persons are treated with the respect and compassion they deserve”. Guardian Australia’s investigation has identified serious failings in burials that occurred this year, after the 2025 reforms.
That includes the case of Peter Giesel, a Sydney man who died in 2024 and was buried in an unmarked communal grave in June without the knowledge of his sister, Nicole, or close friend Elaine Grady. NSW Health said it had updated its policy to require “the provision of a unifo
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