WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions that readers may find distressing.

When Ani Valatava last saw her sister Kinisimere, her body was lying on a trolley at the back of a funeral home in suburban Sydney, a white sheet laid on top of her.

Ani clearly remembers that day five years ago. She had arrived late to the funeral home and was wondering how long her sister’s body had been left out of the fridge.

Kinisimere’s body laid in an open-air garage, exposed to the elements, but she assumed her sister had been moved there so the family could wash her — a normal practice in Fiji.

Ani had travelled to Australia to help her sister through cancer. Kinisimere’s condition worsened and she died just three weeks after Ani’s arrival.

Ani, her cousin and other family members were now at the funeral home, getting ready to prepare and dress Kinisimere’s body before repatriating her remains back to Fiji.

Ani reached for the edge of the sheet and slowly peeled it away.

But when she saw her sister’s face, something was wrong.

“When we pulled back the white sheet [covering Kinisimere], we saw ants coming out of her mouth,” she said.

The women were shocked by what they saw.

She wanted to make a complaint but felt she couldn’t because she lived in Fiji, and said the funeral director wasn’t there at the time.

“[My niece] was the one who was really concerned about what she saw,” Ani said of her Australian niece.

“And she said she’s going to complain about what happened.”

Ani’s niece decided to leave a public review on Google.

It describes the funeral home as “filthy” and says a tap barely worked to wash their hands, and brushes used for mortuary make-up were still dirty. It also describes how the family saw ants crawling out of Kinisimere’s mouth.

It was not the way they wanted to remember Kinisimere, their “intelligent” and “good-hearted sister” and aunty.

Background Briefing spoke to dozens of funeral industry insiders, and families with loved ones who have died, and Kinisimere’s case was just the tip of the iceberg.

‘Delivered in basically a plastic bag’

Just a year earlier, in another part of Sydney, Massimo Barone also had a negative experience with a different funeral home.

When his father, Ugo Barone, died in Concord Hospital in 2018 after a three-year battle with cancer, Massimo was devastated.

Grief stricken and unsure what to do, he had asked a family member to suggest a funeral home.

With family about to arrive from Italy for the funeral, Massimo called one of the first recommendations he’d received — Caring Funerals — and booked a meeting with its director, Adam Lee.

It wasn’t long before Massimo wondered whether he’d made the right choice.

At that first meeting, Massimo says he saw Adam write down Ugo’s date of birth incorrectly, along with another crucial piece of information.

“He was making mistakes, even writing his name,” said Massimo. “U-G-O — it’s three letters.”

“It was like he wasn’t even interested,” said Massimo’s wife, Grace Barone.

Under pressure, Massimo decided to go ahead and remembers shaking hands with Adam over a verbal quote of around $7,000 for the funeral.

A few hours later, Massimo got an email from Caring Funerals with a memorandum of fees for $14,573.60.

He was livid.

“Somebody just passed away and you feel lost, you are in the high sea at the moment, you don’t know where the current is taking you, so you are trusting that person to do the right thing,” Massimo said.

Massimo called Adam and told him they never agreed on the higher amount.

“Not negotiating to buy a house here.”

Massimo later received two revised fee options from Caring Funerals: one for $11,661.10, which had some costs reduced, and one for $7,774.80 that excluded some costs the family would need to pay themselves.

Adam Lee said in an email to Background Briefing that the original verbal quote provided to Massimo was a “basic estimate cost for a funeral service”, and he provided a follow up quote at an amended lower cost with “the family paying” for things like the cemetery fee and chapel hire.

The mix up about what costs the original agreement covered might have been a genuine misunderstanding, but for Massimo, it was too late.

He’d already lost trust and told Adam he was speaking with another funeral home.

Massimo remembered Adam telling him his father had already been embalmed and was being dressed.

Having attended autopsies in his former role as an officer for the Australian Federal Police, Massimo said he knew exactly what embalming meant and it was graphic for him to think about.

“And I was going to pay him for embalming and whatever he’s done so far, I just didn’t want him to look after my dad anymore.”

Massimo made the decision to move funeral homes.

When his father’s body arrived at the new funeral home, it was the first time Massimo had seen his dad since he’d passed away.

He was shocked to see he hadn’t been embalmed, nor dressed.

“He was delivered basically in a plastic bag,” Grace Barone, said.

“I wanted to respect my dad in his death as well, with a nice funeral,” Massimo said. “You know, it was just disgusting at the end of the day.”

Caring Funerals also charged a $525 fee for the transfer of the body, which they eventually waived.

In the email to Background Briefing, Adam explained he “did not intend to mislead Mr Barone” and that he had already booked an embalmer.

“I regret any confusion this may have caused and deeply apologise for any misunderstanding,” he said.

Regarding the transfer fee, Adam said the fee was to cover the transfer of Ugo’s body from Concord Hospital to Caring Funerals.

For Massimo, it wasn’t just about the money. He felt he’d been poorly treated as a customer and wanted to take action.

Swapping bodies

Massimo went digging online and discovered Adam’s funeral home had a history.

In 2001, Adam had mistakenly cremated 65-year-old man Errol Davidson and buried 100-year-old Daisy Jones in his stead.

That swap would have gone unnoticed, had it not been for a worker at Caring Funerals who, riddled with guilt, decided to blow the whistle and alert the authorities.

When Errol’s coffin was finally exhumed, officers found Errol’s photographs inside, as well as his clothes, and favourite runners.

They also found Daisy’s body alongside two heavy brick pavers added to mask the weight difference.

Seven years later, he was convicted of fraud and fined $15,000.

In 2008, Adam was also found guilty of four driving offences, including drink-driving and negligent driving after he stalked a woman down a Sydney road in a hearse.

Twenty years later, Adam, who declined to be interviewed but agreed to answer questions in writing, says he’s learned from his mistakes, is taking responsibility for his actions and views these experiences as an opportunity to grow and improve.

The discoveries left Massimo stunned.

“It’s not fair, it’s just not fair.”

He felt compelled to lodge a complaint to the Australian Competition Consumer Commission (ACCC).

“Basically I went nowhere with that, besides lodging a complaint and finding out … that the industry is not regulated,” he said.

The watchdog told Massimo they recorded the details of his report and gave him general information about his rights as a consumer and how to resolve a dispute.

Massimo felt powerless, and turned to the ABC in the hope that sharing his experience would encourage others to be careful.

‘It was sickly’

While investigating the funeral home that handled Ani’s sister’s body, Background Briefing discovered that home allegedly had a history.

Three former workers, employed at different times over the past 20 years, agreed to be interviewed but requested to be de-identified for fear of retribution.

One of them, who we will call Janine, said she was shocked by what she saw on her first day on the job.

“The mortuary was disgusting. It was sickly,” she said.

Janine described towels stained with blood and faeces, after being used to wash down bodies, would be sitting in a basket for “I don’t know how long”.

She said body bags, which should be disposed of in a medical waste bin along with other items used to handle the deceased, were thrown into a normal bin.

Another former employee, who we will call Cody, said that when it came to the tables in the mortuary, things didn’t seem right either.

She said fluids drained from body preparation tables were disposed of by draining into buckets and then flushed down the toilet.

Two of the former employees claim they saw bodies placed on the floor, either in coffins or in the fridge, and that the company was not using proper vehicles to transport the bodies at the time they worked there.

A transfer worker who previously delivered bodies to the western Sydney funeral home said they now refused to work with them after they left bodies outside, un-refrigerated, for prolonged periods.

Cody said she raised issues with the owners at the time and was asked to leave the company.

The home’s mortuary was the subject of a joint inspection by the local council and NSW Health more than a decade ago. At the time, plumbing issues with a tap only had been identified.

Another inspection was carried out last week, after Background Briefing sent questions to the local council. The report lists three maintenance issues: a hole in the ceiling, damaged wall tiles, and no fly screens over the doors.

‘All you need is a pulse and briefcase’

Funerals are big business in Australia. Last year, there were more than 183,000 deaths in the country. And next year, it’s estimated the funeral directors, crematoria and cemeteries industry revenue will reach $2.4 billion.

Despite this, experts say there are no national standards for the industry nor requirements to become a funeral director in Australia.

One funeral director in Victoria Background Briefing spoke to said “you only need a pulse and a briefcase”.

There have been several investigations into the industry during the past decade, including one by the ACCC into the pricing and regulation of funeral services in 2021, which resulted in three funeral providers being fined for alleged false or misleading representations about their services to consumers.

But industry experts say more still needs to be done and are calling for the implementation of national standards for the funeral industry — to replace current piecemeal regulations across states and territories and better protect customers.

“We’re in one of the most intricate industries … we’re dealing with people at their lowest ebb,” said Michael MacKay, the NSW state director of the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA).

“They have an Australian standard for white paint. They have an Australian standard for bakers.

Michael said funeral directors could be held accountable if they were a member of a professional association like the NFDA.

The association represents more than 200 funeral homes, but membership is on an opt-in basis.

“They must be Australian-owned to be a member of our association, and all our members comply with a strict code of ethics,” Michael said.

The other industry peak body is the Australian Funeral Directors Association (AFDA), which allows for corporate and overseas-owned businesses.

The funeral homes mentioned in this story are not members of either association.

‘No-one is interested until there’s a major incident’

Michael said despite some of the “horror stories”, the majority of funeral directors are acting in good faith, but those who don’t face little-to-no consequence.

And there may be little incentive to do the right thing, when there’s no-one regularly checking.

Local councils are responsible for carrying out inspections of mortuaries in New South Wales.

Michael, who is also the managing director of Mackay Family Funerals and Crematorium, said his business hasn’t had an inspection from the local government for more than six years — and that it’s a similar story for other NFDA members.

Michael believes that the two main state government departments overseeing the funeral industry, NSW Health and Fair Trading, are simply “not interested” in his sector.

“Over 20 years, we’ve been pushing for some kind of regulation in our industry, which has fallen on deaf ears,” he said.

“No-one is interested until there’s a major incident and then everyone comes screaming to the forefront.”

This story comes from Births, Deaths and Marriages, a special podcast miniseries from Background Briefing. Follow the series on the ABC listen app.