Remembrance Parks Central Victoria CEO reportedly stood down amid growing controversy

The news comes after more than 100 people rallied at Eaglehawk on Tuesday to express outrage over the brutal enforcement of a gravesite adornment policy that saw flowers and objects of deep sentimental value removed from numerous graves and broken or thrown into rubbish bins.

Ms Flukes' attitude had been criticised as "cold" by some plot holders who contacted her to plead their case.

Her removal as head of the cemetery trust may act as a circuit breaker in the now red-hot dispute between users of the cemetery and its managers which has sparked an outpouring on social media and seen a petition against RPCV's decoration policy attract over 11,000 signatures.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the RPCV board said it was "acutely aware of the concern from the community regarding the adornment policy" and recognised it "could have handled the whole situation better and should have communicated much better with our families and supported them through to meet the spirit of the adornment policy so that our OH&S obligations can be met.

"We must do better now and in the future," it said.

The board was "fully committed to serving the community now and into the future".

RPCV said there was "a lot of misconception about its actions" and that items had only been removed from the Eaglehawk cemetery, not at Shepparton, where floods last year had washed away some items and others, which had been stored, were available to be collected.

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RPCV had now "stopped the removal of items from memorials unless they are specifically dangerous" and had arranged for staff to replace glass flower holders with plastic RPCV vases.

A process would be established to engage with families so that they could easily identify items they could place on memorials and a customer service team was "ready and able to meet and support families as soon as they make contact".

"Our responsibility is to ensure that we uphold the regulations and rules enshrined in legislation and set by WorkSafe. Our policies on memorials on graves and memorial sites is designed to protect the health and safety of staff and visitors to our cemeteries, to help protect the environment and support the different cultural and religious needs of the wide range of people in Victorian communities," the board said.

"We thank everyone for their input, support and patience as we restore the balance to ensure that the flower and ornament rules which allow visitors to place items at sites meet both our duty of care and families memoralising their loved ones."

Read RPCV's full February 1 statement in response to questions from the Bendigo Advertiser here.

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