The Ipswich City Council and the Goodna Cemetery Trust are now permitting commercial 'ghost hunting' in their cemeteries. These are NOT 'ghost tours'. They are events where customers are charged $70 per person to use gadgets to try and hunt the spirits of the deceased. At the same time (in the Goodna events) a self-proclaimed psychic claims to be speaking to the dead within the graves.

This is happening on the consecrated resting places of local residents who died as recently as 2020.

This is not what the bereaved grave owners wanted when they paid to provide a resting place for their loved ones. Cemeteries should be places of love, memory and respect.

The petitioners call on the Ipswich City Council and the Goodna Cemetery Trust to immediately withdraw all permission for ghost-hunting in the cemeteries under their management.

Whether or not you enjoy ghost hunting, a cemetery is not the place for it. No other local authorities in the world allow such activities to take place in their cemeteries. Ghost hunting has been explicitly banned in Brisbane cemeteries and also the Boggo Road Gaol because of issues of disrespect. It should also be banned in Ipswich cemeteries.