EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants
Marriage Act 1961
Marriage (Celebrancy qualifications or skills) Amendment (Training Materials) Determination 2014
Legislation
Section 120 of the Marriage Act 1961 (the Act) 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.
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 section 39I(2) 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 24 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. It also requires certain training materials to be used in the delivery of a formal course of training that will award the required qualifications.
The Marriage (Celebrancy qualifications or skills) Amendment (Training Materials) Determination 2014 (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 remove reference to prescribed Forms 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 12A, 13, 14, 14A, 16 and 24 from paragraph 5(3)(e) of the Determination and replace them with a reference to the equivalent forms approved by the Minister under section 119 of the Marriage Act 1961. It provides a transitional period between 1 July 2014 and 30 September 2014 to enable training providers to update their training materials after the new approved forms come into force on 1 July 2014. The Amendment Determination will ensure that the most up‑to‑date materials are used in the delivery of training to aspiring marriage celebrants from the end of the transitional period on 1 October 2014.
Consultation
No consultation was undertaken in the making of the Amendment Determination as the instrument is consequential and machinery in nature and does not substantially alter existing arrangements.
Regulatory Impact Statement
A Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared in relation to the Marriage Amendment (Celebrant Administration and Fees) Act 2014 and the Marriage (Celebrant Registration Charge) Act 2014. The RIS determined that there will be an overall deregulatory impact as a result of the reforms package. The Amendment Determination is consequential to the measures of the Marriage Amendment (Celebrant Administration and Fees) Act 2014.
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
The following paragraphs are a statement of compatibility with human rights prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
The Amendment Determination is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
The Amendment Determination is machinery in nature and does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Commencement
The instrument commences on 1 July 2014.
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 (Training Materials) Determination 2014.
Section 2
Section 2 provides that the Amendment Determination commences on 1 July 2014.
Section 3
Section 3 provides that the authority for making the Amendment Determination is regulation 37G of the Marriage Regulations 1963.
Section 4
Section 4 provides that the items in Schedule 1 of the Amendment Determination will amend the Marriage (Celebrancy qualifications or skills) Determination 2009.
Schedule 1
Item 1 - Paragraph 5(3)(e)
This item repeals paragraph 5(3)(e) of the Determination, which provides that certain forms must be included in the required materials for a formal course of training, and replaces it with new paragraphs 5(3)(e) and (f).
New subparagraph 5(3)(e)(i) requires the use of certain forms, as in force immediately before 1 July 2014. This replicates the requirements existing prior to 1 July 2014 for a formal course of training delivered between 1 July 2014 and 30 September 2014. Subparagraph 5(3)(e)(ii) requires the use of Schedules 1A, 1B and 2 of the Marriage Regulations 1963. This does not alter current requirements.
The amendments made by this item will provide for a transitional period between 1 July and 30 September 2014 to enable training providers to update their training materials after the new approved forms come into force on 1 July 2014. Section 27 of the Marriage Amendment (Celebrant Administration and Fees) Bill 2014 provides for a six month transitional period during which the forms prescribed immediately before 1 July 2014 may be used by celebrants for the purposes of the Marriage Act 1961. Similarly, training providers require some time to update their training materials to reflect the new forms.
This item also inserts new paragraph 5(3)(f), which requires the use of the materials set out at new subregulation 5(3A) (see item 2) from 1 October 2014.
Item 2 – After subregulation 5(3)
This item inserts subregulation 5(3A), which requires certain materials to be used if a formal course of training is delivered on or after 1 October 2014.
These materials are the approved forms that, on 1 July 2014, will replace the prescribed forms required to be used in subparagraph 5(3)(e)(i).
Subregulation 5(3A) requires the following materials to be used from 1 October 2014:
- the forms approved by the Minister for the provisions of the Marriage Act 1961 referred to in paragraphs 119(3)(b) to (e) and (i) of that Act :
- ‘Application for registration as a marriage celebrant’,
- ‘Notice of intended marriage’,
- ‘Declaration of no legal impediment to marriage’, and
- ‘Certificate of faithful performance by interpreter’.
- the forms (if any) approved by the Minister under subsection 119(1) of the Marriage Act for the purpose of any of the following provisions of that Act:
- section 12 – ‘Notice of application for order authorizing marriage under marriageable age’,
- section 15 – ‘Application to dispense with a consent to the proposed marriage of a minor’, ‘Dispensation with consent to marriage of minor’, and ‘Notice of refusal to dispense with consent to marriage of minor’,
- section 16 – ‘Notice of application to judge or magistrate for consent to marry’,
- paragraph 39H(4)(a) – ‘Notice to marriage celebrant of unsatisfactory performance’, and
- subsection 42(5A) – ‘Document outlining the obligations and consequences of marriage and stating the availability of marriage education and counselling’.
The subregulation also requires the use of Form 15 in Schedule 1 and Schedules 1A, 1B and 2 of the Marriage Regulations 1963, which replicates the requirements in place prior to 1 July 2014.
The amendments made by this item ensure that the most up-to-date materials are used in the delivery of training from the end of the transitional period on 1 October 2014.