Cremation

Because the body is immediately destroyed when it is cremated, extra precautions are required by law before cremation can take place. (Unlike buried bodies cremated bodies cannot be exhumed for further medical study.)

The executor must complete an Application to cremate, in which he/she certifies that the dead person had not expressed any desire not to be cremated. This form is given to a doctor, usually the doctor that issued the medical certificate of cause of death.

The doctor then issues a cremation certificate if he/she is satisfied that there were no suspicious circumstances and that the dead person was not opposed to being cremated. This certificate is then given to a medical referee who also inspects the body and checks the first doctor's certificate. If in agreement he/she issues a cremation permit. (If the body was referred to the Coroner, the Coroner can issue a cremation permit.)

The Regulations specify that the operator of a crematorium must accept a body for cremation unless there is 'lawful excuse'. Provided the body is delivered in a sealed coffin that meets occupation health and safety criteria, is of a suitable size and material, and is accompanied by a cremation permit, a crematorium should accept the body for cremation.

Many crematoria will be unwilling to accept a body that has not been delivered by a funeral director, and may request approval from the Department of Health. The Department of Health does not require any extra paperwork, and a phone call between the crematorium and the Area Health Service Public Health Unit should remove any concerns of the crematorium operator.

Although there are clauses in the Public Health Act and Regulation that specify requirements of crematoria, there is nothing in these laws specifying that a cremation must take place in a cremator.

Conceivably it would be possible to build a funeral pyre and cremate a body privately if it complied with Environmental Protection Agency and Local Government regulations on burning off. However, gas-fuelled cremators are a more environmentally benign way of incinerating a body and it is reasonable to expect that the law would soon regulate funeral pyres if they became popular.

Crematoria are required to provide ashes to the executor, to dispose of them according to directions, or to keep them for a minimum of 14 days if they are unclaimed. Permission is required to scatter ashes in certain places, including some enclosed waterways and public spaces.

A crematorium must also keep a cremation register and all the forms associated with a particular cremation for a minimum of 15 years.