The below points provide some broadcommentary on the Marriage Celebrants Programme statistics
• From 1July 2015 to 1March 2016, 314 celebrants had resigned and 207 celebrants were deregistered due to non-payment of the annual registration charge.• The number of< applications received is trending higher than last year. We have already received 90%of the total number of applications received in 2014/15.
• As anticipated, the volume of< correspondence (phone and email) peaked< in July through September as the team assisted many celebrants with their invoice related enquires.
Background:
Statistics contained in the following tables are accurate as at 1 March 2016 unless otherwise indicated.
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EXEMPTION FROM ANNUAL REGISTRATION CHARGE |
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2015 |
2014 |
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| Applications Received |
58 |
98 |
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| Exemption Granted |
47 |
73 |
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Reasons for OPD Exemptions
The Registrar of Marriage Celebrants may grant an OPD exemption on the basis of:
• exceptional circumstances, e .g. due to illness or other personal reasons
• a new celebrant's registration falls late in the OPD year such that< it is not feasible to complete OPD that year, or
• a three-yea r OPD exemption was granted because an already-registered celebrant completed the Certificate IV in Celebrancy. {Celebrant had to be enrolled in the Certificate IV in Celebrancy< by 30 
June 2010 and had to provide evidence of enrolment by 14 August 2010.)
Statutory complaints are those that meet the criteria set out the Marriage Regulations 1963.
For example, they must be received within three months of the matter complained of taking place and relate to the solemnisation of the marriage. Since 1July 2015, this means that the matter complainedof concerns the legal obligations or requirements outlined in Division 2, Part IV of the Marriage Act 1961; prior to this any conduct occurring during the marriage ceremony was considered to be related to the solemnisationof a marriage.
Non-statutorycomplaints are all complaints about marriage celebrants that do not meet the criteria in the< Marriage Regulations, including complaints concerning possible conflicts of interest or benefits to business.
Since the last celebrant associations paper, the department has changed the way that complaints are recorded. Complaints are now recorded according to their date of receipt (rather than entry) and, in the future, statistics will be captured by financial year.
The department has also focussed on ensuring that conflict of interest and benefit to business complaints are better captured in complaints reporting.This has resulted in minor changes to previously provided statistics, but provides more accurate figures.
