A burial site at Rookwood cemetery in western Sydney. Guardian Australia has revealed serious failings in the process used by the NSW government to bury those it deems too poor to afford their own funerals. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.

Urgent review announced

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.

"I think it's something that we need to do better," Park said. "Quite clearly, the dignity of those who have … passed, as well as for their families, is something that we need to take into consideration, and we need to do this better."

Call for national cabinet action

Independent senator David Pocock urged Albanese to raise the issue at national cabinet and seek a uniform agreement across states and territories to ensure dignified burials and a basic standard of notification to families, friends, and others associated with the deceased.

"Being poor in a country as wealthy as Australia should not condemn you to an unmarked communal grave," he said.

"While I appreciate that this may not be at the top of most people's list of daily concerns, how we treat our most vulnerable, including in death, goes to our values and who we are as a country."

Who was buried

Vietnam veterans, rough sleepers, people with gambling addictions and migrants from developing countries have been buried together at Rookwood cemetery in western Sydney, with each plot often holding between four and six unrelated people.

Shadow minister for defence personnel Phillip Thompson described the burials of war veterans as "deeply concerning".

"I am disappointed to hear Australian veterans are among those being buried in unmarked mass graves," Thompson said. "These men and women served our nation and deserve dignity, respect in death, regardless of their financial circumstances."

He said it was the job of the federal government to ensure every veteran is identified and appropriately commemorated.

"Not an administrative burden"

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.

"Matters of grief, death and human dignity cannot be treated as administrative burdens to be processed at the lowest possible cost," she said. "Nobody should receive a lesser measure of humanity in death simply because they died without money."

In at least six cases identified by the Guardian, friends, families, homelessness charities and community leaders had not been informed about the process, denying them a chance to intervene and pay for alternative funeral arrangements, a likely breach of NSW Health policy.

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.

"Families and friends who have lost a loved one face many challenges managing arrangements during a time of grief, and all deceased persons should be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their financial circumstances," a NSW Health Pathology spokesperson said.

"It is clear this has not always occurred with respect to the burials or cremations for deceased people without the financial means to pay for a funeral, and NSW Health apologises for the distress this has caused to those who have lost someone they love."

Reforms promised

NSW Health also said it is "committed to changing the way we work". 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.