New South Wales parliament passed, on Wednesday in the Legislative Council, a law that legalises natural organic reduction — terramation, the composting of human remains — as a third option, beside burial and cremation. The first in Australia. It is a passage. It is not the regulations in force. It is not the opening of facilities.

The Guardian: a private member’s bill by independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich. He researched the practice in Germany and the United States. The body, in a temperature-controlled vessel with alfalfa, straw or mulch; the vessel is turned; after about 30 days, soil; another 30 days of rest, about 110kg of dry, fertile, pathogen-free soil — that is what Greenwich told the Legislative Assembly earlier this year. A description. Not an open facility in Sydney.

In the Council, Libertarian John Ruddick said he would put terramation in his will. Labor’s Cameron Murphy: “in the long-distant future after it becomes law.” Liberal Susan Carter: it should not become a human compost bin; the dead should be respected. Emma Hurst, Animal Justice, introduced the bill in the Council: less land, without cremation’s gases. Debate. Not the regulations.

The act gives the government 18 months to write regulations. The practice, only in specialised facilities. News24, with Evergrove founder Aria Kapaniris: the provisions would commence two years after assent, 2029 at the earliest. Two calendars. The Guardian does not write 2029. Assent is not reported as signed.

News24: the Legislative Assembly voted unanimously on 15 October; the Council, on Wednesday. SMH: the first law of its kind in Australia. The bill’s title: Public Health Amendment (Natural Organic Reduction) Bill 2026. A vote. Not the opening of facilities.

Source consulted: NSW passes ‘human compost’ laws — The Guardian.

Image: Parliament House, Sydney, 24 September 2010, Adam.J.W.C., CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The building, not a terramation facility.

Sources consulted: Human composting laws pass NSW parliament in Australian first — Sydney Morning Herald.