Quote: CEMETERY POWER SHIFT Recent media commentary has led some people to believe that the State Government is giveing itself new powers to turn cemeteries into parkland. This is simply not true. The Government can already turn a cemetery into a park. For decades the secretary of the Department of Human Services has had this power. There are three eisting cemetery parks in Victoria that were converted from cemeteries under existing laws: the Old Seymour Cemetery, Will Will Rook Cemetery, Broadmeadows and Oakleigh Cemetery. The new leaws proposed simply transfer this existing power to the Health Minister. It is more appropriate for an elected representative, than an unelected bureaucrat, to have this power. Should the new laws come into effect, they would only be used as a last resort. Conversion would be considered only if it could be demonstrated that it had widespread support among the community and relatives of the deceased. (Signed by) Bronwyn Pike Victorian Health Minister.