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Narrabri Council Four-Year Negligence to Correct Interment Right Certificate
Forces Grieving Family to Speak at Council Meeting, 16.09.2025
A family still grieving the accidental drowning of their son continues to suffer from Council’s ongoing refusal to correct an Interment Right Certificate.
The Certificate, purchased as part of the funeral process formal documentation, was applied and paid for by the deceased’s mother who is also the informer on the death certificate.
She provided those details to the funeral director at the time. The Council’s nominated form however was antiquated and ambiguous, seeking irrelevant and inapplicable information pertaining to the purchasing applicant.
It is noted no other individuals other than the Gray Family participated in the planning of the funeral for their son. And at no time did any person indicate the Interment Right was to be placed in the name of their son.
The result has been that the name of the deceased was incorrectly registered as the Interment Right Holder, giving the false impression the deceased was the applicant, which was impossible.
The Cemeteries & Crematoria Act 2013 stipulates a Certificate must be issued to an Interment Right Applicant. It also states that the Operator, in this instance Narrabri Shire Council, must make any corrections to the record without delay.
However, at no time whatsoever has Narrabri Council provided the family with the original Certificate. Additionally, when the actual hard copy document was requested, Council only emailed a copy.
When the family did finally receive the emailed copy, they realised their son’s name was incorrectly listed as the Interment Right Holder.
Bringing this to the attention of Council they were told that the Right could be transferred and they were directed to a secondary form identified as a Transfer Application Form.
In effect, Council was telling the family to get their deceased son to fill out the form requesting transfer of title. Despite repeated protestations as to the ridiculousness of the situation, Council has refused to correct the record and rightfully issue the certificate, effectively acting in breach of the legislation.
The family has also petitioned Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW (CCM), who initially agreed the record was incorrect. However, CCM has since had a change of mind and informed the family the certificate is correctly allocated.
The family has also requested access to the Interment Register, which had been taken offline since their first petitions commenced.
NSW State Library has also confirmed it does not have access to the Narrabri Interment Register. The Gray Family are angry and extremely upset Narrabri Shire Council was happy to take their money but did not provide the product they paid for in good faith; particularly at a time when they were suffering extreme distress and anxiety. “We just cannot comprehend how incompetent this Council is, and on such a simple matter. But what is of most concern is the fact the online registry has been removed from public view and nobody has access to it. This tells us they know it’s not accurate. From every perspective Narrabri Council is in breach of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act; no certificate, no correct certificate, no willingness to correct the record, directing us to take an action that is not plausible, removing the public register; it’s a disgraceful example of complete lack of comprehension and compliance with the legislation and it is causing indescribable distress to each and every one of us,” stated Mr Rob Gray on behalf of the Gray Family.
“Council staff have shut down; they’re not responsive and they’re certainly not doing anything proactive to resolve this matter. We’re now left having to speak at a public Council meeting about this, which should never be necessary. They just will not admit to this gross hurtful error. But what’s even more important is the bigger picture where this Council’s now been exposed using these antiquated inadequate forms to incorrectly register Interment Right Holder information, leaving a trail of unimaginable false legal genealogical documents. We cannot be the only family this has happened to; we’re just the family that’s uncovered this legal fiasco of incompetence and total insensitivity,” he said.
“We have to bring this out into the public arena now and on the record. This is cruel and totally unnecessary. It’s a very, very bad look for these public servants. I would have thought they’d be taking the initiative on this, but no; it’s all up to us,” stated Rob Gray. “But with the next Council Meeting scheduled very close to our son’s anniversary in October, we just cannot face something like this at that time; leaving us with another month to do so.” The November meeting for Narrabri Shire Council is 19th. This Site will continue to follow this story of small town Council responses to grieving and traumatised members of its community who only want their fundamental legal rights upheld. Contact: Jason Townsend, Governance Manager, jasont@narrabri.nsw.gov.au Darrell Tiemens, Mayor, mayor@narrabri.nsw.gov.au Eloise Chaplain, General Manager, eloisec@narrabri.nsw.gov.au Manager Audit & Compliance Martin Sewell, martin.sewell@cemeteries.nsw.gov.au
The Certificate, purchased as part of the funeral process formal documentation, was applied and paid for by the deceased’s mother who is also the informer on the death certificate.
She provided those details to the funeral director at the time. The Council’s nominated form however was antiquated and ambiguous, seeking irrelevant and inapplicable information pertaining to the purchasing applicant.
It is noted no other individuals other than the Gray Family participated in the planning of the funeral for their son. And at no time did any person indicate the Interment Right was to be placed in the name of their son.
The result has been that the name of the deceased was incorrectly registered as the Interment Right Holder, giving the false impression the deceased was the applicant, which was impossible.
The Cemeteries & Crematoria Act 2013 stipulates a Certificate must be issued to an Interment Right Applicant. It also states that the Operator, in this instance Narrabri Shire Council, must make any corrections to the record without delay.
However, at no time whatsoever has Narrabri Council provided the family with the original Certificate. Additionally, when the actual hard copy document was requested, Council only emailed a copy.
When the family did finally receive the emailed copy, they realised their son’s name was incorrectly listed as the Interment Right Holder.
Bringing this to the attention of Council they were told that the Right could be transferred and they were directed to a secondary form identified as a Transfer Application Form.
In effect, Council was telling the family to get their deceased son to fill out the form requesting transfer of title. Despite repeated protestations as to the ridiculousness of the situation, Council has refused to correct the record and rightfully issue the certificate, effectively acting in breach of the legislation.
The family has also petitioned Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW (CCM), who initially agreed the record was incorrect. However, CCM has since had a change of mind and informed the family the certificate is correctly allocated.
The family has also requested access to the Interment Register, which had been taken offline since their first petitions commenced.
NSW State Library has also confirmed it does not have access to the Narrabri Interment Register. The Gray Family are angry and extremely upset Narrabri Shire Council was happy to take their money but did not provide the product they paid for in good faith; particularly at a time when they were suffering extreme distress and anxiety. “We just cannot comprehend how incompetent this Council is, and on such a simple matter. But what is of most concern is the fact the online registry has been removed from public view and nobody has access to it. This tells us they know it’s not accurate. From every perspective Narrabri Council is in breach of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act; no certificate, no correct certificate, no willingness to correct the record, directing us to take an action that is not plausible, removing the public register; it’s a disgraceful example of complete lack of comprehension and compliance with the legislation and it is causing indescribable distress to each and every one of us,” stated Mr Rob Gray on behalf of the Gray Family.
“Council staff have shut down; they’re not responsive and they’re certainly not doing anything proactive to resolve this matter. We’re now left having to speak at a public Council meeting about this, which should never be necessary. They just will not admit to this gross hurtful error. But what’s even more important is the bigger picture where this Council’s now been exposed using these antiquated inadequate forms to incorrectly register Interment Right Holder information, leaving a trail of unimaginable false legal genealogical documents. We cannot be the only family this has happened to; we’re just the family that’s uncovered this legal fiasco of incompetence and total insensitivity,” he said.
“We have to bring this out into the public arena now and on the record. This is cruel and totally unnecessary. It’s a very, very bad look for these public servants. I would have thought they’d be taking the initiative on this, but no; it’s all up to us,” stated Rob Gray. “But with the next Council Meeting scheduled very close to our son’s anniversary in October, we just cannot face something like this at that time; leaving us with another month to do so.” The November meeting for Narrabri Shire Council is 19th. This Site will continue to follow this story of small town Council responses to grieving and traumatised members of its community who only want their fundamental legal rights upheld. Contact: Jason Townsend, Governance Manager, jasont@narrabri.nsw.gov.au Darrell Tiemens, Mayor, mayor@narrabri.nsw.gov.au Eloise Chaplain, General Manager, eloisec@narrabri.nsw.gov.au Manager Audit & Compliance Martin Sewell, martin.sewell@cemeteries.nsw.gov.au