Marriage Celebrants E-bulletin January 2004
Welcome to the January 2004 issue of the e-bulletin for marriage celebrants.
We hope 2004 will be good to you! And we hope you are becoming more familiar with the reformed Marriage Celebrants Program. The package that we sent to you last August should be your reference point for all details of the new system. If there is anything you do not understand, please use this package as your first reference point.
The contents of e-bulletins apply equally to civil and independent religious marriage celebrants authorised by the Attorney-General.
We encourage you to distribute this e-bulletin to your members and other people 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.
This e-bulletin will be made available on the Internet as soon as possible after its distribution, and can be accessed at the following address:
www.ag.gov.au/celebrants (select Latest News)
We intend to continue to distribute e-bulletins via email in the immediate future, but we encourage you to access the Internet version, as over time the current duplication of e-bulletins through email messages will be phased out.
Currently e-bulletins are forwarded to all marriage celebrant associations. If you are a member of an association, you should be receiving e-bulletins from that association.
Statistical Returns
We have received many statistical return forms and new Annual Return forms from celebrants for the July to December 2003 period. We appreciate your concern that there be no gap in our statistical records. However, the purpose of collecting these statistics has now changed. We no longer need the half-yearly statistical returns for the purpose of assessing areas in need of additional celebrants. But we will be collecting statistics on the number of marriage ceremonies performed for other aspects of the Marriage Celebrants Program.
Your record of the number of marriage ceremonies you have performed should now be included in the Annual Return form you were sent in your August 2003 package (see the yellow sheet entitled Completion of Reporting Requirements). This form should be completed and returned to us once a year only after 30 September and before 31 October each registration year. Your first Annual Return will cover the period 1 September 2003 to 31 August 2004, and is due by 31 October 2004.
For this purpose you should use the white Annual Return form, rather than the old blue or pink forms you have used in the past. Please throw away any of these old statistical return forms you still have. You can print more copies of the new Annual Return form from our website at:
www.ag.gov.au/celebrants (select Forms for Return of Celebrations Performed, then select the Word, PDF or HTM version you prefer).
The statistical return forms we have received will be returned to celebrants who have sent them to us. Please read the information in your August 2003 package (yellow sheet).
On the Annual Return, in addition to providing statistics on weddings performed, you will also need to provide details of the Ongoing Professional Development activities you have completed during the current registration year (1 September 2003 to 31 August 2004). For more information about this, see the blue sheet entitled Professional Development that was included in your August 2003 package.
Notice of Intended Marriage Forms
Celebrants should now be using the white, four-page Notice of Intended Marriage (NIM) Form. This form has been the prescribed form for over 12 months now. If you still have copies of the old blue form, please throw them away as they can no longer be used. Celebrants should be giving all four pages of the white NIM form to couples.
If you wish you can print copies of this form from our website at:
www.ag.gov.au/celebrants (select Notice of Intended Marriage Form), or you can purchase them by ringing 1300 656 863.
Names on Forms
Names used on the Notice of Intended Marriage (NIM) Form should match those on the parties birth certificates. If one or both of the parties use a different name, they should enter their name as shown on their birth certificate, and also write their commonly used name as aka or also known as. They would then sign the NIM using the signature they commonly use.
If a female party to a marriage has been widowed or divorced, she may not have used the name on her birth certificate for many years. In this case, she may put her married name on the NIM, but must also refer to the name on her birth certificate. For example, if a girl is named Mary Smith by her parents, married Bill Jones, is widowed after a number of years, and is then re-marrying, she may fill out the NIM as Mary Jones (birth name Mary Smith), or Mary Jones nee Smith. It would also be acceptable for her to fill out the NIM as Mary Smith (aka Mary Jones). In either case she would sign as Mary Jones.
Please see page 6 of the Explanatory Material on the Marriage Act 1961 for Marriage Celebrants that was included in the package of information we sent you in August 2003.
For NSW Celebrants Only
We have received information that some NSW celebrants have been advised by others that, if they use online processes for registering marriages, they do not have to keep a marriage register of their own. This is not correct. The Marriage Act clearly requires celebrants to keep their own registers - s.50(4)(a)(ii) of the Marriage Act 1961 refers).
Ongoing Professional Development
Additional Activities
The following additional activities have been added to the Approved Activity listing since the November 2003 mail-out to all celebrants:
COMPULSORY ACTIVITY
Activity: Knowledge of the requirements of the Marriage Act 1961 and Marriage Regulations (in three specific areas)
Provider: Monash University, Melbourne
Method of Delivery: Face-to-face
Location: Melbourne
Duration: 1hr
Code number: 38
Contact details: Monash University, Diana Wong, Tel: (03) 9905 2172
Email: Diana.wong@arts.monash.edu.au
OTHER ACTIVITY
Activity: Wedding ceremony for the hospitalised and the very elderly
Provider: Mrs Helen Scott
Method of Delivery: Video
Location: N/A
Duration: 3 hours
Code Number: 39
Contact Details: An Authorised Nationwide Celebrant Service, Helen Scott
Tel: (02) 4982 1978
Email: weddings@nelsonbay.com
Further Activities
The package of information that you were sent in November 2003 about Ongoing Professional Development included information about activities being approved on an individual basis (see page 15 of Professional Development Obligations for all Celebrants Authorised by the Commonwealth). If there is an activity that you feel would benefit you in your role as marriage celebrant, that is not already included in our Approved Activity listings, please get in touch with the Marriage Celebrants Section to discuss the activity, and the prospect of it being approved for Ongoing Professional Development purposes. You should do this before undertaking the activity retrospective approval cannot be granted. To contact the Marriage Celebrants Section, ring (02) 6250 6496, or email:
marriagecelebrantssection@ag.gov.au
Suggestions for New Activities
We would be very happy to hear from celebrants who may be able to suggest activities that they would like to see added to the listings of Approved Activities. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this, by ringing (02) 6250 6496, or emailing:
marriagecelebrantssection@ag.gov.au
Celebrants outside of Metropolitan Areas
We have received a number of enquiries from celebrants who live in regional or rural Australia about how they can access Ongoing Professional Development activities. Several of the Approved Activity providers are offering their activities by distance education or online. Please contact the providers of the activities that most interest you, to find the ones that are most easily accessible, and are appropriate to your particular situation.
Departmental Presentations of Compulsory Activity
Celebrants wishing to make a booking to attend an Attorney-Generals Department presentation of the compulsory Ongoing Professional Development activity should contact the Marriage Celebrant Section from the first week of February. We will then be able to advise of the times of the presentations and take names for bookings.
If you are interested in attending one of the Departmental presentations that are to take place at an Association meeting, you should get in touch with the Association contact person listed (please see pages 4-5 of the documents sent to all celebrants in November 2003 entitled Professional Development Obligations for all Celebrants Authorised by the Commonwealth).
Unauthorised Celebrants Performing Marriages
We are continuing to receive enquiries and concerns from celebrants and others about unauthorised celebrants performing marriages. Our last e-bulletin (November 2003) contained information about the minimum legal requirements for a registered marriage celebrant conducting a marriage. This information can be found at pages 20-21 of the Explanatory Material on the Marriage Act 1961 for Marriage Celebrants, that all Commonwealth-authorised marriage celebrants received in their August 2003 package. People who are not registered as marriage celebrants must not advertise themselves as able to perform weddings or marriages. This is very misleading. All instances of this practice that come to our attention are being followed up.
Religious and Civil Ceremonies
We have received a number of enquiries from religious marriage celebrants about whether they are also able to conduct civil ceremonies, and from civil marriage celebrants about conducting religious ceremonies. This question has raised policy issues that are under detailed consideration at present. We will advise you in another e-bulletin of the outcome.
Deborah Nance
Registrar of Marriage Celebrants
Marriage Celebrants Section
Family Law Branch
Family Law and Legal Assistance Division