- since 1961 all marriage celebrants, whether State registered or Commonwealth appointed, are providing marriage
services on behalf of the Commonwealth Government under the Marriage Act 1961 - since 1961 all marriage celebrants have been required by the Commonwealth Governmenta. to provide those marriage services according to the rules set by theCommonwealth Governmentb. to register those marriages as directed by the Commonwealth with the State of Territory Registry within whose geographic boundaries the marriage takes placec. to use forms and other documentation as set by the Commonwealth and sold via the government printing services or the government contracted printing services
Secondly, the Federal Government has Anti-discrimination laws that prohibit discrimination based upon marital status. It can be argued that Cost Recovery being passed onto the 70% of couples married by Commonwealth marriage celebrants8 in predominantly civil marriage ceremonies means these married couples unfairly carry the burden of Cost Recovery, being treated differently from those couples married by Recognised Religious celebrants.
Thirdly, CoCA asserts that, since the High Court of Australia judgement in the Williams v Commonwealth of Australia [2012] HCA 23 ( 20 June 2012) matter,9 where the High Court noted criteria upon which to assess whether a person held “office … under the Commonwealth”, there are now strong grounds upon which to state the status of Commonwealth marriage celebrants as “Officers of the Commonwealth”.
As such, that High Court judgement means that the “legal grounds” for specifically singling out Commonwealth Marriage Celebrants for the Regulation measures of
Commonwealth appointed Celebrants brought in 2003 is certainly not “clear”.
