Marriage Celebrants E-bulletin April 2002
Celebrant Associations and Members
This is the first in a series of monthly e-bulletins to provide you with up to date information regarding the Marriage Celebrants Program.
The regular e-bulletin aims to relay the progress of the Marriage Amendment Bill 2002 and will also provide information relevant to the Marriage Celebrants Program generally.
We encourage you to distribute the e-bulletin to your members and/or to other parties likely to have an interest. Permission to re-print any part of this e-bulletin is provided subject to your agreement that its contents are not edited or changed.
As any issues arise, we will endeavour to provide you with timely and accurate information for inclusion in upcoming e-bulletin issues. Where possible we aim to provide the bulletin during the first week of each month but competing priorities may cause delay on occasion.
In order to ensure timely distribution and to devote our resources to the various Commonwealth priorities we are currently juggling, the e-bulletin will not be provided in hard copy.
We hope you and your members will find these regular updates useful.
The Marriage Amendment Bill 2002
The Marriage Amendment Bill 2002 was passed by the House of Representatives on 21 March 2002 with the support of both sides of the House.
Attached to this issue are the following documents:
The Attorney-General's second reading speech - Attachment 1;
Mr Duggan's recent letter concerning the conflict of interest provisions (referred to during the debate) - Attachment 2.
Following the House of Representatives' support for the Bill, the legislation will now be considered by the Senate. The timing for the passage of legislation is a matter for the Parliament and we are not, therefore, in a position to estimate a likely date for Senate consideration of the Bill.
The Hansard record of debate can be accessed via the following internet link: www.aph.gov.au/hansard. Once you have entered the Hansard site, click on "House" on the left of the screen and then 21 March and scroll down to page 97.
Handbook for Marriage Celebrants
We have had some recent queries about the Handbook for Marriage Celebrants.
The most recent edition of the Handbook is the 1996 edition.
It is the responsibility of each marriage celebrant to ensure that they have in their possession the latest edition of the Handbook. A Handbook can be obtained from Ausinfo (the Government Printer) at a cost of approximately $13.
When a new celebrant is appointed it is suggested that a start-up kit is purchased direct from Ausinfo at a cost of approximately $75.
The Handbook will be revised as the Marriage Amendment Bill 2002 progresses. A revised Handbook will be available as soon as practicable prior to the introduction of the new system of operation of the Marriage Celebrants Program.
Progress of the Development of a Training Framework
The Marriage Celebrants Industry Reference Group established to inform the development of the national training framework for marriage celebrants has now held two meetings. The first meeting was held face to face in Melbourne in December 2001 and the second held via telephone conference in February 2002.
Comments on the first draft of the unit of competency were required by Community Services and Health Ltd (CSHTA) by 31 March 2002.
Feedback received will be considered and amendments incorporated into the unit of competency as appropriate.
It is anticipated that a revised draft unit of competency will then be made available in mid-April for final comment by the marriage celebrant community.
To follow the progress of the training framework for marriage celebrants, you can access CSHTA's new website at the following address: www.cshta.com.au
Registration of Marriages
We have recently been advised of a situation where following a wedding ceremony, a couple contacted the officiating marriage celebrant requesting that the marriage not be registered. This is not an isolated incident and marriage celebrants are occasionally asked by couples, who, for any number of reasons, do not want their marriage registered.
By law, a marriage celebrant is required to register every marriage within 14 days of the ceremony taking place. This is regardless of the reasons put forward by one or both parties to a couple. A marriage celebrant has no discretion in these matters. The documents must be lodged.
Contact details
Please contact the Marriage Celebrants Section on (02) 6250 6496 for any queries and your call will be returned as soon as an officer becomes available.
Next E-Bulletin
The next e-bulletin will be distributed to celebrant associations in early May 2002.
ATTACHMENT 1:
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARRIAGE AMENDMENT BILL 2002
SECOND READING SPEECH
I first introduced this Bill on 27 September last year. It gives me much pleasure to reintroduce this Bill which effects major changes to the Marriage Celebrants Program that performs such an important function in our community.
The Marriage Amendment Bill 2002 gives effect to the reform of the Marriage Celebrants Program and other technical amendments to the Marriage Act 1961. And as I stated in this House on 27 September 2001 this Bill is the culmination of the four year process that I began in 1997.
The growing demand for civil marriage ceremonies has resulted in a steady increase in the numbers of authorised civil marriage celebrants, and an even greater increase in interest in the profession of celebrancy, with enquiries from people wishing to become a marriage celebrant running at approximately 3,000 per year. There has also been a steady increase in the number of non-recognised denomination religious marriage celebrants appointed under the program.
However, since the Program commenced, the process for authorising civil marriage celebrants in particular has developed in an ad hoc way.
As I informed the House last year, prior to this Government coming into office civil marriage celebrants were appointed on an electorate by electorate basis. Labor Government members would regularly involve themselves in the authorisation process. In 1997, the Howard Government replaced this system of appointment with one based on regional or special community need.
However, the current system remains far from perfect. Authorisation based on regional or special need excludes many people who would make excellent celebrants from entering the profession.
The over-arching catalyst for reforming the program is to ensure that couples intending to marry have wide access to thoroughly professional marriage celebrants.
This is the philosophy and intent behind the review process. It is a philosophy the Government shares with the celebrant community.
The Bill has two major focuses.
The first and most significant, is to improve the Marriage Celebrants Program through a range of reforms designed primarily to raise the level of professional standards required of celebrants and to capitalise on the unique position of celebrants in the community to encourage and promote pre-marriage and other relationship education services.
These reforms will be given effect by the provisions contained in schedule 1 of the Bill and by regulations to be made under the Marriage Act.
The second focus is given effect by amendments in Schedule 2 of the Bill, which will provide for a series of technical amendments to the Marriage Act. These changes are primarily in relation to the Notice of Intended Marriage; the introduction of passports as an acceptable means of identification for overseas couples; guidelines concerning the shortening of time between the lodgement of a Notice of Intended Marriage and when a couple can marry; and the removal of redundant provisions in the Act.
The development of the reform package for the Marriage Celebrants Program which culminated in the introduction of this Bill to the House on 27 September last year has been a long and at times difficult process. Throughout this process the celebrant community has remained engaged and, in the main, very constructive in its approach to what the Government had in mind. The celebrant community has recognised the need for change and has responded appropriately.
As I noted when I first introduced this Bill there were doubts expressed when I released the Proposals Paper in November of 2000 that the Government would pay sufficient attention to the concerns of celebrants. This Bill demonstrates that the Government has listened and acted upon the concerns expressed by celebrants. This is evident in the changes made to the package of reforms. These include the maintenance of lifetime appointments, the removal of the requirement for existing celebrants to satisfy the new core competencies, the introduction of a five year transitional period for the phasing in of the new appointments system and the removal of the proposal for a fee to be paid in order to be authorised as a marriage celebrant.
By the year 2010, if present trends continue, some 60% of weddings will be performed by civil celebrants under this reformed program. I also expect that the number of smaller religious groups seeking their own religious expression will continue to increase. Reform of the program to satisfy the community of the quality and integrity of the program into the future is critical.
I believe that this package of amendments will be fundamental to ensuring this outcome but it will only be with the assistance and co-operation of celebrants that the outcome can be assured.
I reintroduce the Bill and commend it to the House.
ATTACHMENT 2
01/4586
28 February 2002
All Celebrant Representative Bodies
Conflict of Interest Provisions
I refer to the recent email exchange within the celebrant community about the conflict of interest provisions contained in the Marriage Amendment Bill 2002 (the Bill).
In determining whether a person is fit and proper to be a marriage celebrant, Section 39C (2) (e) of the Bill provides that the Registrar must take into account whether the person has an actual or potential conflict of interest between his or her practice, or proposed practice, as a marriage celebrant and his or her business interests or other interests.
While there appears to be some difference of opinion being asserted about the intent and interpretation of the provisions, we believe that the provisions do indeed work and will prevent precisely the sort of behaviour that appears to be causing unrest.
The provisions will prevent a person having a conflict of interest between his/her interests as a celebrant and his/her business and other interests. The "other interests" will clearly cover, for example, employment related interests.
The conflict of interest provisions is a standard provisions replicated in a number of pieces of Commonwealth legislation.
The Bill introduced in September 2001 and distributed to celebrant representative bodies on 3 October 2001 for comment contained the same conflict of interest provisions as the Bill introduced in February 2002. The issues currently being raised were not raised at that point.
The inclusion of a statutorily defined conflict of interest provision is not a new concept.
The selection criteria operating under the current system of appointment states that marriage celebrant applicants must not have a conflict of interest or potential for such a conflict of interest in connection with any of their business interests, hobbies or other interests.
These issues will need to be dealt with on an individual basis in the course of the application process.
In concluding, the conflict of interest provisions should be no surprise to celebrants. The criterion has been used, among others, to determine an applicant's suitability for appointment as a marriage celebrant for many years. The provisions were discussed publicly when the revised proposals were released and on a number of occasions since. The Marriage Amendment Bill 2001 contained the conflict of interest provisions mirrored in the Marriage Amendment Bill 2002.
I trust that this letter has clarified the conflict of interest provisions and any of your concerns have been laid to rest.
Yours sincerely,
Kym Duggan
Assistant Secretary
Family Law Branch
Telephone: (02) 6250 6982
Facsimile: (02) 6250 5962
Email: kym.duggan@ag.gov.au