Council & Politics
17 October, 2025
Audit digs up grave mistakes
A half-million-dollar dispute, a hijacked business name and a coffin full of questions had The Stawell Times-News office working overtime to make sense of a serious set of circumstances which have left Northern Grampians Shire Council red-faced and a respected local business in disarray. Last week, the Times-News obtained a document dated August 14, 2025, which matter-of-factly explained that Northern Grampians Shire Council was actively pursuing funeral directors Fred Crouch and Son, for debts totalling $583,043.00 inclusive of GST as of July 31 this year.
The amount is represented in Council’s Draft 2024/25 Annual Report, currently available to view on the NGSC website, with the line title “Allowance for expected credit loss” - An accounting estimate of potential unrecoverable losses on financial assets, such as accounts receivable or loans, due to the borrower's potential inability to pay.
NGSC Chief Executive Officer Brent McAlister was asked to shed some light on how a local business could possibly rack up such an eye-watering bill with the Shire.
“Council conducted a comprehensive 12-month internal audit under the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act 2003, which identified significant historical outstanding cemetery fees owed by a specific debtor,” said Mr McAlister, “The total outstanding amount is now disclosed in the 2024/25 Annual Report, consistent with Council’s standard financial reporting practices.”
“Recovering the outstanding debt is a current priority and will be managed directly with the involved party.”
Mr McAlister also made a point of mentioning the day-to-day operation of Stawell and St Arnaud cemeteries.
“Recognising ongoing management challenges, Council has allocated appropriate resources over the last two years to improve operations at Stawell and St Arnaud cemeteries,” he said.
“The focus has been on ensuring integrity, efficiency and compliance with legal requirements to better serve the community.”
Geoff Sanderson has owned and operated Fred Crouch and Son since 1987 and on Wednesday he shared his thoughts on the financial dispute with Council, as well as the circumstances leading up to it.
“Since 2003 the Council, as operator of the cemetery trust, had engaged me to provide interment services, in that time I have also been operating the administrative management of all enquiries from the community because Council did not have anyone to do this and all inquiries to Council were referred to me to sort out,” said Mr Sanderson.
“Despite the countless hours, over weekdays and weekends, I have never received any payment for the administrative management of the trust in the past 22 years and was only paid for gravedigging up until several years ago.”
Mr Sanderson made his frustrations clear over Council’s position regarding outstanding debts, suggesting that from his point-of-view, the inquest into who owes who is far from over.
“I am incredibly disappointed that the Council has released information to embarrass me and foment personal attacks on my character, when I am cooperating with Council to identify any discrepancies in the accounts,” said Mr Sanderson.
“Those enquiries conducted between myself, and Council are still at their relative infancy, and to suggest that there is a debt of almost $600,000 is simply incorrect and I dispute this amount.
“While I am committed to working with Council to resolve any accounting errors and discrepancies, I am owed more than $200,000 in unpaid gravedigging fees.”
Mr Sanderson said that it was Council’s own mistakes that led to the audit that identified the financial kerfuffle.
“It was brought about by an investigation by the Health Commission into Council’s noncompliance with rules and regulations,” Mr Sanderson said.
“I want to get to the bottom of this just as much as Council does.”
Compounding Mr Sanderson’s current predicament is a wild situation that sees him not currently the legal registrant of the business name Fred Crouch and Son, which was registered on August 19, 2025, to sole trader Brad Cummings, ABN no. 26971576631 who is not in business with Mr Sanderson.
The Stawell Times-News has been unsuccessful in reaching Mr Cummings for comment and has so far not been able to ascertain whether Mr Cummings himself registered the business name, or if it was registered by a third party in Mr Cummings’ name.
Mr Sanderson sought to explain the hijacking of the Fred Crouch and Son business name.
“In relation to the business name Fred Crouch and Son, I have owned and operated the business since 1987, having purchased it from the previous owner at that time,” said Mr Sanderson.
“The business has operating under that name since 1863.”
During his communications with The Stawell Times-News, Mr Sanderson hinted at the possibility an individual with a personal axe to grind might have been involved with the registration of the business name but stopped short of naming names.
“The opportunistic registration of the business name gives no rights to anyone else, and I have engaged lawyers to assist me in ensuring that the reputation and intellectual property of the business is preserved and protected, and legal action is being taken,” he said.
While Mr Sanderson was very forthcoming with information about the financial entanglement with Council, he had less to say on the topic of why the Fred Crouch and Son business name was available to register in the first place.
The business name had previously been registered to TARGAVALE PTY LTD, ABN no. 81006770903, however the company’s ABN number was cancelled on November 4, 2022, and while we did ask Mr Sanderson to explain what business structure he’d been operating under since 2022, The Stawell Times-News doesn’t currently have those details.
“The issue with the ABN was a mistake on my part and it has been addressed,” was all Mr Sanderson said regarding the question of what form the businesses has operated in since his company ABN was cancelled in 2022.
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