Shalala and Registrar of Marriage Celebrants

This matter concerned an application by Pastor Shalala to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of a decision by the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants to deregister him. The dispute arose because Pastor Shalala failed to pay his annual marriage celebrant registration charge by the due date of 31 August 2018.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether there was any discretion available to the Registrar, or indeed the Tribunal, to allow a late payment of the registration charge or to reverse a deregistration decision made on the grounds of non-payment. Pastor Shalala contended that his failure to pay was due to circumstances beyond his control, including being on long service leave and subsequently resigning from his church, which managed his administrative affairs and previously paid his invoices. He also claimed he did not receive the invoice or subsequent correspondence regarding the impending deregistration.

The Tribunal determined that the provisions of the *Marriage Act 1961* (Cth) regarding the payment of the annual registration charge are absolute and inflexible. The Registrar's information sheet explicitly stated that if payment is not made by the charge payment day, deregistration will occur, and there is no discretion to consider late payments. This was illustrated by the precedent case of *Thiel*, where deregistration occurred despite the celebrant's personal tragedy. The Tribunal noted that the Registrar had provided multiple notifications to Pastor Shalala via email and postal address regarding the outstanding charge and the consequences of non-payment.

Consequently, the Tribunal dismissed Pastor Shalala's application under section 42B of the *Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975* (Cth) as having no reasonable prospect of success. The Tribunal clarified that this decision did not prevent Pastor Shalala from making a new application for registration as a marriage celebrant at any time.