Kerekere concerned about burden of ‘funeral poverty’

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Gisborne-based Independent MP Dr Elizabeth Kerekere  says the cost of funerals is too high in New Zealand and contributes to “funeral poverty”.

Speaking in the House, which resumed this week, Dr Kerekere said,”severe weather events are having an impact on tangihanga and funerals in areas such as Te Tai Rāwhiti, where we must pay to reluctantly cremate our loved ones, because the high water table precludes burials, potentially for months.

“The average cost of a funeral in Aotearoa is $10,000 and it is a burden too high for many of our whānau.”

The Burial and Cremation Act 1964 was outdated, and many community advocates had identified other issues which also contributed to funeral poverty.

Associate Minister of  Health (Pacific Peoples) Barbara Edmonds told Dr Kerekere the Government planned no review of the Act this term.

Parliament dissolves on September 8 which is 36 days before election day.

Dr Kerekere said dependence on the private funeral industry for basic paperwork required for burial and cremation was almost universal and was driving whānau into debt.

“Whānau are often not aware that groups such as Ngā Pou Herenga—the Funeral Guides Collective — exist and that there are options to reduce costs through the services of funeral guides or death doulas on marae and in the community.

“In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, when it is so hard to put food on the table, the last thing we need is whānau going into debt because a loved one has passed away.”

Dr Kerekere, a first term list MP, resigned from the Green Party in May, and is not seeking re-election.