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Becoming a celebrant

The Marriage Celebrant Program

• Background
• Training
• Fit and Proper Person Test
• Cap on the new appointments
• Restrictions on your conduct while you are on the waiting list
• Special or one-off ceremonies, or participation in a ceremony
• Once appointed

Background

The Marriage Celebrants Program was established in 1973. It enables the appointment of suitably qualified people to perform marriages and provides couples with a meaningful alternative to Registry Office and mainstream church weddings.

An extensive four year review of the Marriage Celebrants Program was commenced in 1996. The review carefully considered the opinions and experiences of marriage celebrants, celebrant organisations and the marrying couples who use their services and identified a number of deficiencies in the program that required reform.

With the aim of raising the standard of services provided by marriage celebrants appointed under the program, a package of reforms was developed to broaden and enhance the role of celebrants by including the provision of information on pre-marriage and other relationship services. The aim is to ensure celebrants play an important role in developing longer-lasting family relationships and therefore stronger communities.

The reforms, by way of amendments to the Marriage Act 1961,commenced on 1 September 2003.

Training

People wishing to register as a marriage celebrant will need to have completed an approved, competency-based training course, delivered by a registered organisation that is accredited to deliver the training.  

• National Training Information Service website

Under ‘Training Packages and Community Services’ you can view a detailed list of the units of competency required, and under ‘Training Providers’ you can view the list of registered training organisations accredited to deliver training. Universities may also offer courses in celebrancy.

The Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department does not accredit training providers. Their accreditation is provided by State and Territory educational authorities. Any issues or concerns relating to training bodies should be taken up with the training provider concerned or with the relevant State or Territory accrediting body.

As a service for those seeking information on how to conduct and review a marriage ceremony, the following is a list of training providers for the unit of competency ‘CHCMCEL401A – Plan’.

• List of Training Providers

• This list is subject to change
• All enquiries about cost, method of delivery or training content must be directed to the training organisations concerned.

If you believe you have the experience and/or training to fulfil the competency requirements, you may seek a written assessment by a qualified assessor. 

A qualified assessor is someone who:

• holds a qualification at or above ‘Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment’, and
• is involved in delivering marriage celebrant training.

If your assessment indicates you do not meet the competencies required, you will need to successfully complete the training unit before you can apply.

People who are fluent in an Australian indigenous language(s) may apply under a special provision. You should contact the Marriage Celebrants Section for more information if you wish to apply under this provision.

Fit and proper person test

Once an aspiring marriage celebrant completes an approved training course or assessment, there will be an additional requirement to demonstrate to the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants that the fit and proper person criteria, set out in the Marriage Act 1961, have been met. 

The requirements of the fit and proper person test are as follows:

• do you have sufficient knowledge of the law relating to the solemnisation of marriages by marriage celebrants
• are you committed to advising couples of the availability of relationship support services
• are you of good standing in the community
• have you been convicted of an offence, punishable by imprisonment for one year or longer, against a law of the Commonwealth, States or Territories 
• do you have an actual or potential conflict of interest between your practice, or proposed practice, as a marriage celebrant and your business interests or other interests such as employment or hobbies
• would your registration as a marriage celebrant be likely to result in you gaining a benefit in respect of another business you own, control or carry out
• will you fulfil your obligations as a marriage celebrant, and
• any other matter the Registrar considers relevant to whether you are a fit and proper person to be a marriage celebrant.

You must contact the Marriage Celebrants Section for an application package. You will receive detailed instructions on how to complete the form. You should read all the information carefully before filling in the form—an incomplete application will be returned to the sender.

Cap on new appointments

Section 39E of the Marriage Act 1961 requires that the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants must not register a person if doing so would breach the cap of 20 per cent of the total number of marriage celebrants registered by the Commonwealth in a registration year. The registration year is from 1 September to 31 August of each year.

However, from 1 September 2008, any applicant who meets the mandatory training requirements and satisfies the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants that they meet the fit and proper person criteria set out in the Marriage Act 1961, will be able to be registered.

The cap is administered on the basis of regions that are defined in the Marriage Regulations 1963. Each State (except Tasmania) is divided into a capital city region and a rest-of-State region. Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory form one region apiece. The capital city region in each State is defined by the Marriage Regulations in accordance with definitions established by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The rest-of-State region is the whole State outside the capital city region.

The cap for each registration year is not known until it is set on 31 August each year for the next registration year. Once the cap is filled in each registration year a waiting list of those left who have been found to be suitable for registration is commenced for each region for the following year. Applicants are placed on the waiting list strictly in the order in which their application has been processed (the Marriage Act requires that all applications be processed in the order in which they are received). Anyone remaining on waiting list will then move up the list.

The appointments cap has been reached in many regions for the assessment period 1 September 2006 to 31 August 2007 and waiting lists have commenced in some of these regions.

Applicants on the waiting list who have been assessed as suitable can expect to be registered at the commencement of the registration year shown below:

• Victoria—Capital City Region (1 September 2008)
• Victoria—Rest-of-State Region (1 September 2008)
• Queensland—Capital City Region (1 September 2008)
• Queensland—Rest-of-State Region (1 September 2008)
• Tasmania—(1 September 2008) 
• Australian Capital Territory (some vacancies for the assessment period 1 September 2007 to 31 August 2008 still exist)
• New South Wales—Rest-of-State Region (1 September 2008)
• New South Wales—Capital City Region (1 September 2008)
• Western Australia—Capital City Region (1 September 2008)
• Western Australia—Rest-of-State Region (1 September 2008)
• South Australia—Capital City Region (1 September 2008)
• South Australia—Rest-of-State Region (1 September 2008)
• Northern Territory (some vacancies for the assessment period 1 September 2007 to 31 August 2008 still exist).

Expected registration times may change, depending on the size of the cap in any year. Each registration year until their appointment, suitably assessed applicants will be kept up-to-date on their position on the waiting list.

Suitably assessed applicants will also be contacted again before the registration year in which they may be registered. Applicants will be asked whether their circumstances have changed. Registration as a marriage celebrant is not automatic.

Restrictions on your conduct while you are on the waiting list

Being placed on a waiting list for registration as a marriage celebrant does not make you a registered marriage celebrant. An applicant on a waiting list is not entitled to engage in any advertising or promotion that suggests they are available to conduct marriage ceremonies. You may only solemnise marriages once you have been formally notified of your registration as a marriage celebrant.

Applicants on the waiting list are also not entitled to accept any bookings, or agree to perform any marriage, until after they have been notified that they have been registered as a marriage celebrant.

Special or one-off ceremonies, or participation in a ceremony

Applications for authorisation to solemnise a single ceremony, or to solemnise marriages for friends and relatives, will not be accepted. However, persons not authorised as marriage celebrants may participate in aspects of a marriage ceremony as long as an authorised marriage celebrant conducts the ceremony and fulfils all the legal requirements for solemnising a marriage.

An authorised marriage celebrant must:

• consent to be present as the responsible authorised marriage celebrant
• take a public role in the ceremony
• identify themselves to the assembled parties, witnesses and guests as the celebrant authorised to solemnise the marriage
• be responsible for ensuring the validity of the marriage according to law
• say the words required by section 46 in the presence of the parties, the formal witnesses and the guests before whom the marriage is solemnised
• be in close proximity (i.e. nearby) when the vows required by subsection 45(2) are exchanged. It is the exchange of vows that constitutes the marriage and the authorised celebrant should ensure that they see and hear them exchanged
• be available to intervene (and exercise the responsibility to intervene) if events demonstrate the need for intervention elsewhere in the ceremony
• be part of the ceremonial group, or in close proximity to it, and
• sign the papers required by the Act.

Once Appointed

Appointments will be made on a lifetime basis, subject to a celebrant satisfying ongoing requirements.

These include:

• compliance with a Code of Practice covering such matters as maintaining a high standard of service and professional conduct, complying with the Marriage Act 1961 and other laws, and a range of requirements for the conduct of marriage ceremonies
• undertaking professional development each year, and
• undergoing regular performance reviews to ensure continuing compliance with obligations.