A community meeting set up by the board last week was also criticised as “the biggest waste of time” by those who attended.
Shepparton mother Ash Napolitano, who had items removed from her two-year-old son Hunter Boyle’s grave at Pine Lodge cemetery in January, was among those to attend the meeting in Bendigo.
She said the board placed all the blame for the decision to remove items, including photos, ornaments and plants, in late December, on the chief executive who has since resigned.
Ms Napolitano was scathing about how the meeting was conducted, labelling it “the biggest waste of time” and “disrespectful to families”.
Ms Napolitano said the board “refused to acknowledge they knew what the CEO was doing” and only allowed a “handful” of people to ask questions.
“How does a board not know what their CEO is doing?” she said.
“We all went there hoping for some answers and felt the door was shut in our face.
“They’ve done so much to us and we thought this was a chance to air our grievances.
“They need to hear us and take responsibility.”
State Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell, who also attended the meeting, has renewed her earlier call for the board to either resign or be sacked.
Ms Lovell spoke about the meeting in state parliament on Tuesday, labelling it “by far the worst example of community engagement I have ever experienced”.
“The report’s 12 recommendations were all about improving governance, communication and engagement with the community, but it was clear that the board has no intention of implementing these recommendations, as the format of the meeting was very much about the board talking at the community and refusing to listen to the community,” she said.
“This is a failure of governance because it is a failure of policy.
“Why hadn’t they reviewed this (adornment) policy?”
Ms Lovell was also unhappy that all meetings and consultations about the issue were held in Bendigo.
“They did not come to Shepparton to do consultation or do a report here despite there being two cemeteries here,” she said.
At the meeting, Remembrance Parks Central Victoria board chairperson Marg Lewis said the board had had an independent investigation into the events conducted by Southern Metropolitan Cemetery Trust chief of people and governance Lucas Robinson.
The report made 12 recommendations, including a review of the adornment policy, ongoing consultation with the community about the adornment policy, a review of procedures for handling customer sales, queries and complaints, and introducing an induction process for new staff and trust members.
However, she said the board would not publish the report “due to the very personal and private communications that form the basis of the report”.
Ms Lovell slammed the board for not making the findings public.
“We’ve seen his recommendations but not his findings,” she said.
At the meeting, Ms Lewis apologised on behalf of the board for “the loss and confusion around RPCV’s adornment policy in December and the actions of RPCV in January”.
“Those adornments, which are alive with the memories of loved ones, were mistreated as disposable things to be thrown away,” she said.
“For this reason we particularly apologise for the actions, which displayed no regard for the memory of the loved ones that you hold most dear.
“We all understand that the clearing of adornments without proper consultation, notice or storage should not have happened and must never happen again.”
Ms Lewis then told those gathered that she did not know about the enforcement of the adornment policy until she saw social media posts, instead placing the blame on the trust’s former chief executive.
