EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants
Marriage Act 1961
Marriage (Celebrancy qualifications or skills) Amendment Determination 2010 (No.1)
Legislation
Section 120 of the Marriage Act 1961 provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, prescribing all matters which by the Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Paragraph 39C(1)(b) of the Act provides that a person is only entitled to be a Commonwealth‑registered marriage celebrant if the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants is satisfied that the person has all the qualifications, and/or skills, determined in writing to be necessary by the Registrar in accordance with regulations made for the purpose of this paragraph.
Regulation 37G of the Marriage Regulations 1963 (the Regulations) provides, for the purposes of section 39C of the Act, the qualifications and skills required for registration as a marriage celebrant. Subregulation 37G(1) of the Regulations provides that the Determination must require the person to have either: a celebrancy qualification (however described) from a university, mentioned in the determination, that includes all the units the Registrar determines to be necessary for registration as a marriage celebrant and are provided in accordance with the requirements in subregulation 37G(2); or a Certificate IV in Celebrancy, awarded by a registered training organisation, that includes all the units the Registrar determines to be necessary for registration as a marriage celebrant and are provided in accordance with the requirements mentioned in subregulation 37G(2).
Subregulation 37G(2) of the Regulations provides, the following requirements for subregulation 37G(1): each unit must be delivered by a marriage celebrant having the qualifications, skills, training and experience as a marriage celebrant that the Registrar determines; each unit must not be delivered by a marriage celebrant against whom the Registrar is taking or has taken any disciplinary measures mentioned in paragraph 39I(2)(c) of the Act during the period that the Registrar determines; and each unit must include all the materials that the Registrar determines must be used in the unit.
The Marriage (Celebrancy qualifications or skills) Determination 2009 (the Determination) commenced on 22 December 2009 and specifies the skills or qualifications an applicant seeking to become a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant, under section 39C of the Act, must hold.
The Marriage (Celebrancy qualifications or skills) Amendment Determination 2010 (No.1) (the Amendment Determination) is made by the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants under regulation 37G of the Marriage Regulations 1963. The Amendment Determination amends the Determination.
Purpose
The purpose of the Amendment Determination is to: specify Monash University as the university that provides the equivalent university qualification; update the unit codes for Monash University; update outdated references to the Regulations; specify the period that a person must not be the subject of disciplinary measures; and specify the materials that Monash University must use in the delivery of the prescribed units.
Consultation
The Office of Best Practice Regulation was consulted in relation to the Amendment Determination and advised that the preparation of a Regulation Impact Statement was not required as there was a low or no compliance cost on business or in relation to this Instrument.
No consultation was undertaken in the making of the Amendment Determination as the instrument is machinery in nature and does not substantially alter existing arrangements.
Commencement
The instrument commences the day after registration.
Details of the Amendment Determination
Section 1
Section 1 provides that the name of the Amendment Determination is the Marriage (Celebrancy qualifications or skills) Amendment Determination 2010 (No.1).
Section 2
Section 2 provides that the Amendment Determination commences on the day after it is registered.
Section 3
Section 3 states that the purpose of Schedule 1 of the Amendment Determination is to amend the Marriage (Celebrancy qualifications or skills) Determination 2009.
Schedule 1
Schedule 1 amends section 4; subsections 5(1); 5(2); 5(3); and paragraph 5(3)(c) of the Determination and inserts new subsection 5(4) into the Determination as follows:
Item [1] – Schedule 1, section 4
This item amends the qualifications or skills determined by the Registrar to be necessary for a person to be registered as a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant (subregulation 37G(1)). In particular, the table in paragraph 4(a) of the Amendment Determination specifies: Monash University as the university that may award the celebrancy qualification; the unit codes and unit descriptions for each of the units (including new unit codes to provide for the unit codes that Monash University will use from 2011). The table in paragraph 4(b) of the Amendment Determination includes the mandatory units within the Certificate IV in Celebrancy that the Registrar determines necessary to for registration as a marriage celebrant and specifies the unit codes and unit descriptions for these units. The skills listed in paragraph 4(c) of the Amendment Determination are the same skills provided in subregulation 37G(3) of the Regulations.
Item [2] – Schedule 1, subsection 5(1)
This item substitutes the reference to paragraph 37G(4)(a) of the Regulations in subsection 5(1) of the Amendment Determination with a new reference to paragraph 37G(2)(a) of the Regulations.
This is a minor technical amendment to correct the paragraph reference to the Regulations following the commencement of Schedule 2 to the Marriage Amendment Regulations 2009 (No.1) SLI No.200.
The new reference to paragraphs 4(a) and (b) reflect the amendments made to the tables by section 4 of the Amendment Determination.
Item [3] – Schedule 1, subsection 5(2)
This item substitutes the reference to paragraph 37G(4)(b) of the Regulations in subsection 5(2) of the Amendment Determination with a new reference to paragraph 37G(2)(b) of the Regulations.
This is a minor technical amendment to correct the paragraph reference to the Regulations following the commencement of Schedule 2 to the Marriage Amendment Regulations 2009 (No.1) SLI No.200.
The new reference to the tables made in paragraphs (4)(a) and (b) reflect the amendments made to the tables by section 4 of the Amendment Determination.
Item [4] – Schedule 1, subsection 5(3)
This item substitutes the reference to paragraph 37G(4)(c) of the Regulations in subsection 5(3) of the Amendment Determination with a new reference to paragraph 37G(2)(c) of the Regulations.
New subsection 5(3) substitutes the reference to paragraph 37G(4)(c) of the Regulations with paragraph 37G(2)(c) of the Regulations. This is a minor technical amendment to correct the paragraph reference to the Regulations following the commencement of Schedule 2 to the Marriage Amendment Regulations 2009 (No.1) SLI No.200.
The new reference to the tables made in paragraph 4(b) reflects the amendments made to the tables by section 4 of the Amendment Determination.
Item [5] – Schedule 1, paragraph 5(3)(c)
This item substitutes the words, “2008, Attorney-General’s Department” in subsection 5(3)(c) of the Amendment Determination with a new reference to the Attorney-General’s Department website “http://www.ag.gov.au/celebrants”.
This is to ensure that the most up-to-date materials are used in the delivery of training
Item [6] – Schedule 1, after subsection 5(3)
This item inserts new subsection 5(4) into the Determination.
New subsection 5(4) specifies the materials that each unit mentioned in the table in paragraph 4(a) of the Amendment Determination must use. The materials listed in new subsection 5(4) are the Marriage Act 1961 and the Marriage Regulations 1963.