CoCA Celebrant News - Elected Officials - September 2014

Dear Visitor,

Announcing a new service from CoCA, the peak body for Australian celebrants.

CoCA Celebrant News for Government Officials aims to send you regular information related to the Marriage Act 1961, the Marriage Regulations, the Commonwealth Marriage Celebrant Program and more.

TOPIC:  By what outcome can Cost Recovery Measures applied to Marriage Celebrants be measured as efficient and effective?

  CoCA Answer: 

Annual registration fees on Commonwealth celebrants remain the same (CPI adjusted) or reduced.

This is achievable if

• the Attorney-General's Department works efficiently in collaboration with professional celebrant associations
• better training and assessment standards are introduced and
• the profession is allowed to manage its affairs as is the case in other professions.

Things to know:

• Changes to the Marriage Act, passed on 27 March 2014, introduced cost recovery and other changes for the Commonwealth Marriage Celebrants Program. 
  
  
• For the first time in Australian history, annual fees upon marriage celebrants commenced being collected from 1st July this year.
  
  
• The intended revenue of $1.8 million will represent 80% of the Attorney-General's Department's budget for marriage law and celebrant regulation work. 
  
  
• These fees only apply to Commonwealth appointed celebrants who currently average less than $4,000 gross pa.
  
  
• Ensuring these independent professional marriage celebrants are not over-serviced and over-charged by government is the aim of the Government's Cost Recovery Guidelines.

A clear measure needs to be set to ensure these private celebrant practitioners are not paying for poor public service planning and management of this subdivision of celebrants who deliver a important service to the Australian public.

More about CoCA

• What is CoCA?
  
• What are CoCA's goals for the next decade?

CoCA liaises with the Attorney-General's Department in Canberra on issues to Marriage Law and in the Marriage Celebrancy Sector.

If you need more information about this month's issue or information about our profession, please contact the CoCA Secretary.