Marriage Celebrants E-bulletin November 2003
Welcome to the November 2003 issue of the e-bulletin for marriage celebrants.
Announcement from the Assistant Secretary, Family Law Branch
The selection process has been finalised and I am delighted to announce that Deborah Nance has been appointed the new Registrar of Marriage Celebrants. We congratulate Deborah on her appointment, and look forward to an exciting year together as the new processes for appointment and regulation of marriage celebrants get under way.
Kym Duggan
Assistant Secretary
Family Law Branch
Family Law and Legal Assistance Division
Attorney-General's Department
E-bulletin continues ...
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:
http://www.ag.gov.au/celebrants
(click on Latest News)
Now that the reforms to the Marriage Celebrants Program are in place, we intend to continue our past practice of issuing regular e-bulletins. We will continue to distribute the e-bulletins via email in the immediate future but we encourage those interested 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-bulletin information from that association.
Annual Return Form
We have received enquiries from celebrants appointed under the old system about the new Annual Return forms. Please wait until the end of the first registration year (31 August 2004) before completing and sending in your Annual Return form. You will need to include information about the number of ceremonies you have conducted throughout the registration year (1 September to 31 August), as well as information about your professional development activities throughout the year. Even if you have not conducted any ceremonies during the registration year, you will need to send in a completed Annual Return form after 31 August. The first Annual Return will be due by 31 October 2004.
You may photocopy the Annual Return form you received in your package, or it can be printed from the Attorney-General's Department website at:
http://www.ag.gov.au/celebrants
(click on Forms for Return of Celebrations Performed)
Unauthorised celebrants performing marriages
Representative celebrant associations have raised with the Registrar their concern in relation to two related matters:
a) people who are not authorised or registered marriage celebrants performing weddings, advertising their services as celebrants or advertising in such a way as to make it unclear whether they are registered marriage celebrants or not. Many of these people are students undertaking the marriage celebrancy unit or recent graduates of training courses; and
b) registered marriage celebrants taking a minimal role in these ceremonies, sometimes doing little more than signing the required papers.
Independently of associations raising these concerns, the Marriage Celebrants Section has contacted a number of people over the last 12 months concerning potentially misleading advertisements they have placed in the press or potentially misleading statements concerning their status as registered marriage celebrants on their websites.
This matter was discussed in the e-bulletin of June 2002 and the minimum legal role of a registered marriage celebrant in a marriage ceremony was outlined.
The minimum legal requirements for a registered marriage celebrant conducting a marriage are set out again below. These were set out in full in the Explanatory Material enclosed with your package of information in August 2003. They may be found at pages 20-21.
In the event that a marriage is being solemnized by a minister of religion, and someone other than the registered marriage celebrant is taking a role in the ceremony, the minister of religion who is the registered marriage celebrant must ensure that they play at least the following minimum role:
- consent to be present as the supervising registered celebrant and to be at the ceremony in that capacity
- be part of the ceremonial group or in close proximity to it
- be responsible for ensuring that the marriage ceremony is carried out according to law
- make their presence as the registered celebrant known to the congregation
- be available to intervene in a meaningful way if events demonstrate the need for it elsewhere in the ceremony
- sign the papers required by the Marriage Act, and
- in the case of independent religious marriage celebrants registered by the Commonwealth, say the words required by section 46 of the Act in the presence of the parties, the formal witnesses and the guests before the marriage is solemnized.
If someone other than a registered marriage celebrant is taking a role in a marriage ceremony being conducted by a registered marriage celebrant who is not a minister of religion, the registered marriage celebrant must ensure that they do at least the following:
- consent to be present at the ceremony as the responsible registered marriage celebrant
- take a public role in the ceremony
- identify themselves to the assembled parties, witnesses and guests as the celebrant registered to solemnize the marriage
- be responsible for ensuring that the marriage ceremony is carried out according to law
- say the words required by section 46 in the presence of the parties, the formal witnesses and the guests before the marriage is solemnized
- be in close proximity to the ceremonial group or part of it and see and hear the vows required by section 45(2) exchanged
- be available to intervene (and exercise the responsibility to intervene) if events demonstrate the need for it elsewhere in the ceremony, and
- sign the papers required by the Act.
In the case of ALL marriage celebrants authorised or registered by the Commonwealth it is the authorised or registered marriage celebrant only who must say the words in section 46 of the Marriage Act 1961. The registered marriage celebrant simply signing the papers is not sufficient. Nor is it sufficient to simply attend the ceremony and play no part in it.
I set out below relevant parts of section 101 of the Act which makes it an offence for an unauthorized person to solemnize or purport to solemnize a marriage:
A person shall not solemnize a marriage, or purport to solemnize a marriage, at a place in Australia - unless the person is authorized by or under this Act to solemnize marriages at that place
As authorised or registered marriage celebrants you must ensure that you do not find yourself agreeing to arrangements outside those outlined above or in the Explanatory Material.
As has been noted before (such as in the e-bulletin of June 2002) this does not prevent people particularly requested by the couple playing a significant role in the ceremony. Nor does it prevent you, as a marriage celebrant, from designing a ceremony to meet the needs of the couple. However, you must ensure that in doing so the minimum requirements outlined above are adhered to.
Training
We have received several enquiries lately from celebrants who were authorised before the reforms to the Program took place on 1 September 2003. They have been concerned about notices they have received from celebrant training providers, offering them courses of training to help them fulfil their training requirements under the reformed Program.
The course of training referred to by the training providers is a requirement only for celebrants seeking appointment by the Commonwealth under the new system commencing on 1 September 2003. Celebrants appointed by the Commonwealth prior to 1 September 2003 are exempt from the requirement to undertake such a course of training. The confusion probably arose from the wording used by training providers in providing notification of their training courses.
However, it should be noted that all celebrants appointed by the Commonwealth must fulfil their ongoing professional development requirement of five hours per year. This includes celebrants appointed both before and after 1 September 2003, as well as civil and independent religious celebrants.
Professional development
A list of approved professional development activities for the current registration year, 1 September 2003-31 August 2004, together with other information about the requirements relating to ongoing professional development, is enclosed with this e-bulletin. The list of professional development activities will also be available on the Department's website as soon as possible. It should be noted that additional activities are likely to be added to the list throughout the registration year - these will be added to the list on the website, and will also be included in future e-bulletins.
'Authorised' and 'registered' mean the same thing!
You may have noted or read the words 'authorised' and 'registered' both being used in relation to your status as a marriage celebrant. These words mean the same thing!!
The Marriage Act 1961 now uses the term 'registered' to describe marriage celebrants appointed by the Commonwealth so we are moving to the use of that term also. However, as was noted in your package of materials, it means the same thing as 'authorised'.
I look forward to continuing to work with all of you to make marriage celebrancy a rewarding and fulfilling role. I also look forward to assisting you all in ensuring that the Australian public receives a high standard of service from all marriage celebrants.
Deborah Nance
Registrar of Marriage Celebrants
Marriage Celebrants Section
Family Law Branch
Family Law and Legal Assistance Division