Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department
Australian Government: Attorney-General's DepartmentAchieving a Just and Secure Society

What's new in the Marriage Celebrants Program

This is the official site of the Australian Marriage Celebrants Program. Anything that you read elsewhere that is inconsistent with this site is not accurate.

This page aims to provide some information about current issues relating to the Marriage Celebrants Program. Updates will be made to this page regularly.

Becoming a marriage celebrant

For marriage celebrants

For training organisations

Recognised denominations

Website updates to ‘marriage’ pages

The Department is in the process of updating the material on various pages of this website. This will be an ongoing process and we ask for your patience while improvements are being made.

Becoming a marriage celebrant

New qualification required for applications lodged on and after 3 February 2010

On and from 3 February 2010, a person who applies to be registered as a marriage celebrant will need to hold the Certificate IV in Celebrancy (CHC42608) or an equivalent university qualification to meet the qualification requirement for registration.  

Applicants must also satisfy the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants that they are a fit and proper person to be registered as a marriage celebrant.

Please note that different criteria for registration apply to people who are fluent in an Australian indigenous language(s). If you wish to apply under this criterion, please email marriagecelebrantssection@ag.gov.au.

More detailed information on applying for registration is available on the Becoming a celebrant page.

The new qualification – the Certificate IV in Celebrancy or an equivalent university qualification

The Becoming a celebrant page contains detailed information on the Certificate IV in Celebrancy (CHC42608), the elective units required for registration as a marriage celebrant (known as the four mandatory marriage celebrant units) and the requirements for the delivery of these units set out in a determination made by the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants on 22 December 2009.

If you are considering enrolling to obtain the Certificate IV in Celebrancy, please ensure that your training organisation complies with the requirements of the determination which details certain attributes trainers should have, as well as minimum training materials to be used. There are important consequences for you if these requirements are not met.

Applying with a qualification other than the Certificate IV in Celebrancy or an equivalent university qualification

People seeking to be registered as a marriage celebrant possessing a single unit of training (CHCMCEL401A – Plan, conduct and review a marriage ceremony) or a Certificate IV in Marriage Celebrancy—presuming either of these qualifications was awarded before 1 January 2010—must have lodged their application before 3 February 2010. 

We are unable to extend this due date as the requirement is provided for in 2009 amendments to the Marriage Regulations 1963. The Regulations provide that the qualification that must be held for applications lodged on and after 3 February 2010 is the Certificate IV in Celebrancy or an equivalent university qualification.

For marriage celebrants

OPD exemptions – amendments to the Marriage Regulations 1963 commencing 1 July 2010

With some exceptions, from 1 July 2010 there is no longer an exemption from ongoing professional development on the basis that a person has completed the Certificate IV in Celebrancy or an equivalent university qualification. These exceptions protect those who have already enrolled in those qualifications.

Exemption still available in some circumstances

From 1 July 2010 the Marriage Regulations 1963 require marriage celebrants who wish to obtain the exemption from ongoing professional development on the basis they have completed the Certificate IV in Celebrancy to:

  • be enrolled in the Certificate IV in Celebrancy before 1 July 2010, and
  • provide evidence of that enrolment to the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants before 14 August 2010.

These amendments support the original policy intention of the exemption.

A person who provides the information mentioned above to the Registrar and who completes the Certificate IV in Celebrancy (or equivalent university qualification), will be exempt from OPD for the registration year in which they complete that qualification and the following two registration years.

For further information, including about the evidence required to be submitted to the Registrar before 14 August 2010, please see the Ongoing Professional Development page.

The reasons for these changes to the Regulations are explained below.

Reasons for amendments to the Marriage Regulations 1963

Ongoing professional development is an essential component of the Marriage Celebrants Program.

Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrants fulfil an important role in the community, one that carries many responsibilities including legal ones. It is therefore essential for marriage celebrants to maintain current knowledge and skills. One way marriage celebrants do this is by fulfilling their OPD obligation each registration year.

In December 2009, amendments were made to the Regulations to support the new direction for the delivery of OPD to Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrants and to align OPD with the new qualification required for registration as a marriage celebrant, the Certificate IV in Celebrancy. The intention was to ensure that marriage celebrants continually update their knowledge and skills through undertaking recent training.

The 2009 amendments to the Regulations included an exemption from OPD for those marriage celebrants who complete the Certificate IV in Celebrancy or an equivalent university qualification. The exemption acknowledged the effort required by marriage celebrants (or aspiring marriage celebrants) to undertake and complete training in the units of the full Certificate IV in Celebrancy and the fact that a marriage celebrant has undertaken recent training.

It was the intention that the actual undertaking of recent training would allow a marriage celebrant access to the exemption from professional development.

Recent options being offered by some training organisations to obtain the Certificate IV in Celebrancy in order to qualify for the exemption may or may not involve a marriage celebrant actually undertaking recent training. As a result, the decision has been made to amend the Regulations while not disadvantaging those who have already enrolled in these options.

For further information about OPD, see the Ongoing Professional Development page.

Please remember to visit this webpage regularly for updated information about OPD. The Attorney-General’s Department’s website is the official source of information regarding your OPD obligations.

2010 OPD Arrangements

Providing professional development activities

Following a selection process, three registered training organisations are on the panel of providers of OPD for Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrants. The registered training organisations on the panel are:

Contact details for the panel of providers of OPD are available on the ongoing professional development page.

Your OPD obligations

Updated information on your OPD obligations for the registration year 1 January – 31 December 2010 and subsequent years is published on the ongoing professional development page.

As mentioned in the FAQs available from the OPD page, once you have submitted your annual return for the annual registration year of 1 September 2008 – 30 August 2009, you are no longer required to submit an Annual Return.

Updating your contact details

From time to time, important information published on this website is also distributed to Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrants via e-mail or letter (if no e-mail address is available). The Marriage Act 1961 also places an obligation on marriage celebrants to notify the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants in writing within 30 days if their details on the Register of Marriage Celebrants change.

To ensure that you meet your obligations and receive important distributions, please advise the Registrar of a change in any of your contact details.  You can do so by emailing marriagecelebrantssection@ag.gov.au.

Changes to divorce orders from 13 February 2010

Marriage celebrants will be aware of changes made in July 2002 to the issue of documents evidencing a divorce. At that time, the Family Court and Federal Magistrates Court ceased issuing both a decree nisi of dissolution of marriage and a decree absolute, and moved to a practice of issuing a certificate of divorce. 

From 13 February 2010 further changes take effect to the form of document that is issued by the courts when a divorce order becomes final. Information about the changes on the Family Law Courts website is set out below:

“In view of difficulties with the current divorce certificate being recognised by some foreign countries, the courts will be making changes to the form of document that is issued when a divorce order takes effect.

As from 13 February 2010, the current certificate of divorce will be replaced by a divorce order which records all the matters considered by the judicial officer in pronouncing the order. Pursuant to section 55A(1)(b) of the Family Law Act 1975 any children of the marriage will be named on the divorce order.

Once the divorce order takes effect, a divorce order will issue and will include a certification that the divorce has taken effect so that a separate divorce certificate will not be issued.

The new form of order will be issued for divorces pronounced after 13 February 2010.  Replacements of divorce certificates after 13 February 2010 will be in the new divorce order form even if the divorce order was made prior to 13 February 2010.

Please call the Family Law Courts on 1300 352 000 for more information.”

In addition to the decree absolute and certificate of divorce, this new divorce order is another form of evidence that can be produced for the purpose of solemnising a marriage (subsection 42(10) of the Marriage Act 1961).

Reality television programs

The Department is aware that, on occasion, marriage celebrants will be approached to participate in reality television programs about weddings. While it is up to individual celebrants as to whether they wish to be involved, celebrants’ knowledge and expertise of the legal requirements under the Marriage Act 1961 are very important in this context. 

Information on surprise weddings and ceremonies as prizes is available in the ‘Explanatory Material on the Marriage Act 1961 for Marriage Celebrants’.

For training organisations

Essential information for training organisations

A new page for training organisations was published on our website in late 2009. This page contains essential information for those organisations intending to offer training for marriage celebrancy through the Certificate IV in Celebrancy (CHC42608).

Recognised denominations

Website information in development

The proclamation of a religious organisation as a recognised denomination under section 26 of the Marriage Act 1961 enables a religious organisation to nominate its ministers of religion to state and territory Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages for registration as marriage celebrants who meet certain criteria. 

The Department is in the process of developing website information for religious organisations wishing to apply for recognised denomination status, as well as information for proclaimed recognised denominations.

Recognised denominations proclamation

On 24 March 2010, the Marriage (Recognised Denominations) Amendment Proclamation 2010 was made pursuant to section 26 of the Marriage Act 1961.  The 2010 Proclamation amends the Marriage (Recognised Denominations) Proclamation 2007 to:

  • declare an additional 14 religious bodies or organisations to be a recognised denomination for the purposes of the Act
  • reflect that three existing recognised denominations have changed their name, and
  • make a typographical amendment to the name of an existing recognised denomination.

Affected organisations have been contacted by this Department.

A list of all currently proclaimed recognised denominations is available below. Please note that the list is made solely for the purposes of the Marriage Act. It is not intended to be used for any other purpose or by any other agency.