Marriage Celebrants Program
We manage the Marriage Celebrants Program in Australia. This page outlines the services we provide under the Marriage Celebrants Program and how manage performance and privacy.
About the Commonwealth Marriage Celebrants Program
The Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) registers and regulates marriage celebrants under Part IV, Division 1, Subdivision C and Subdivision D of the Marriage Act 1961 (the Marriage Act). This activity is known as the Commonwealth Marriage Celebrants Program.
Marriage Law and Celebrants Section
The Marriage Law and Celebrants Section (MLCS) within AGD is responsible for the administration of the Marriage Celebrants Program. The purpose of the Program is to apply appropriate scrutiny to aspiring marriage celebrants, to support the availability of services across Australia, including in remote areas, and to regulate the performance of Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrants to ensure professional, knowledgeable and legally correct services are delivered to marrying couples.
The Program is cost recovered. This means the costs of regulating marriage celebrants are borne by those who are the subject of regulation and not the general public. AGD is committed to continually evaluating the efficiency, productivity and responsiveness of the Program. There are two parts to the Program:
- Assessing applications for registration as a marriage celebrant. This includes:
- assessing application information including qualifications, possible conflicts of interest and commitment to advise couples of relationship support services
- undertaking criminal history checks
- assessing referee reports
- registering successful applicants and notifying unsuccessful applicants with reasons for the decision
- assessing and notifying the outcome of applications for exemption from the application fee.
- Ongoing regulation of marriage celebrants. This includes:
- producing and maintaining relevant educational material for celebrants
- providing access to an online celebrant portal to allow celebrants to securely manage their information, pay the annual registration charge and engage with AGD
- responding to enquiries by telephone and email
- developing, managing and approving ongoing professional development (OPD) activities
- investigating complaints about celebrants
- monitoring celebrants’ performance, including through compliance with OPD obligations, consideration of complaints and targeted reviews of performance
- responding to applications to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
- assessing and notifying the outcome of applications for exemption from the annual celebrant registration charge or from OPD obligations
- engaging with stakeholders, including celebrant representatives, celebrants, OPD providers, state and territory registries of births, deaths and marriages, and other government agencies
- ongoing review of the Program and the related legislative framework.
MLCS is also responsible for some activities that are not cost-recovered such as policy issues relating to the Marriage Act and Marriage Regulations 2017. This includes implementing Australian Government marriage policy and administering marriage legislation that is not specific to marriage celebrants.
State and Territory Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages
State and territory Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDMs) are, among other things, responsible for the registration of marriages and receiving paperwork from marriage celebrants relating to marriage.
As such, you should contact your state or territory BDM directly when you require information about, or assistance with:
- registering a marriage
- making corrections to paperwork lodged with a BDM
- access to Lifelink or other electronic marriage registration systems – some BDMs have electronic
registration systems. These are managed by the relevant BDM. The MLCS does not have access to these systems.
Under the Marriage Act there are other categories of authorised celebrants, apart from Commonwealth-registered celebrants, who can solemnise marriages in Australia. These are ministers of religion who solemnise marriages for religious organisations that have been proclaimed as recognised denominations and officers who solemnise marriages on behalf of their state or territory (generally in registry offices and courts). AGD does not regulate these other categories of authorised marriage celebrants. They are regulated by each state and territory BDM.
Privacy and the Marriage Celebrants Program
We take great care to meet our privacy responsibilities under:
- the Privacy Act 1988
- the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
We will only use your personal information to manage your involvement in the Marriage Celebrants Program.
This includes activities such as:
- assessing your application to be a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant
- monitoring your ongoing professional development
- conducting performance reviews
- investigating complaints
- imposing disciplinary measures
- publishing information which is required under the Marriage Act.
Who we may ask for information or give information to
To manage your registration we may need to get information about you from, or give information about you to:
- the Register of Marriage Celebrants
- any state or territory registry of births, deaths and marriages in Australia
- any celebrant association you may belong to
- any religious body or organisation you belong to
- any training providers involved in your qualifications or ongoing professional development
- other areas in our department
- any law enforcement authorities
- other government departments that help us do our work
- any other body that we are legally required to give information to (such as a court).
We will generally only collect sensitive information with your consent. This includes your criminal history and religious beliefs.
Ask or complain about your privacy
Contact our Privacy Contact Officer if you want to:
- access your personal information
- correct your personal information
- ask us about how we treat your personal information
- complain about your privacy.
Privacy Collection Notice
This document explains how the Attorney‐General’s Department (the department) will collect, store, use and disclose your personal information when you apply to be registered as a marriage celebrant under the Marriage Act 1961 and the Marriage Regulations 2017, and in managing your information under the Marriage Celebrants Program.
The department is bound by the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988, including the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). Your personal information will be handled in accordance with the department’s obligations under this Act.
Personal information is collected for the purposes of managing the Marriage Celebrants Program, including but not limited to, assessing applications to be registered as a marriage celebrant, managing the registration of marriage celebrants (such as monitoring ongoing professional development or conducting performance reviews), investigating complaints and imposing disciplinary measures on celebrants.
Personal information collected in this application and any supporting documentation you provide will be used to assess your application for registration and to manage your registration under the Marriage Celebrants Program. If the department does not collect your personal information for these purposes, we may not be able to process your application or manage your registration.
In processing your application or managing your registration, the department may need to collect, use or
disclose your personal information from or to the following parties:
- the Register of Marriage Celebrants on the Attorney‐General’s Department website
- any state or territory registry of births, deaths and marriages
- any celebrant association you may belong to
- any religious body or organisation you belong to
- any training providers involved in providing your initial qualification or subsequent Ongoing Professional Development
- other government departments assisting the Attorney‐General’s Department in the conduct of its functions (for example, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions)
- any law enforcement authorities (for example, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Australian Federal Police and any state or territory police service)
- other areas within the Attorney‐General’s Department
- any other body where there is a legal obligation to do so (for example, responding to the direction of a court to produce documentation).
The following third‐party providers assist the department with services in respect of the Marriage Celebrant Program and will have access to your personal information:
- ANZ Worldline provides payment collection services to the department. Their privacy policy is available
on the ANZ Worldline website, or you may request a copy from the department.
Each third‐party provider accessing your personal information is required to comply with the Privacy Act 1988.
In accordance with Australian Privacy Principle 3, the department will generally only collect personal information with your consent.
The department is not likely to disclose your personal information to a person who is not in Australia or an external territory, unless the information relates to an overseas marriage issue.
If disclosure of personal information is made to an overseas recipient, the department must comply with obligations under Australia Privacy Principle 8. This includes taking reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas body will handle and protect your personal information in the same way that an Australian body would.
The department’s Privacy Policy explains how we handle and protect the personal information you provide us. Our Privacy Policy also explains how you can request access to, or correct, the personal information we hold about you, and who to contact if you have a privacy enquiry or complaint. If you require a hard copy of our Privacy Policy, please contact the Privacy Officer at privacy@ag.gov.au.
If you have any questions regarding how the department handles your personal information in relation to the Marriage Celebrants Program, please contact the Marriage Law and Celebrants section at marriagecelebrantssection@ag.gov.au.
Contact details
Marriage Law and Celebrants Section
1800 550 343
Outside Australia: +61 2 6141 3111
marriagecelebrantssection@ag.gov.au
3-5 National Circuit BARTON ACT 2600