Marriage Programme Statistics provided for 27th October 2016 meeting with the AGD

Marriage Programme Statistics

October 2016

Statistics contained in the following tables are accurate as at 1 July 2016 unless otherwise indicated.

*The way of reporting number of celebrants required to do OPD changed after 2013 to improve accuracy. Figures used for 2013 included celebrants who were deregistered during the year, who no longer had OPD obligations. Figures from 2014 include only celebrants who were registered at 31 December, and therefore still had an obligation to complete OPD.

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-year 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.)

As at 6 October 2016, there were 15 complaints in progress.

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 1 July 2015, this means that the matter complained of 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 solemnisation of a marriage.

Non-statutory complaints 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.

Complaints are recorded according to their date of receipt (rather than entry) and statistics are captured by financial year. From July 2015, the department has ensured that conflict of interest and benefit to business complaints are also captured in complaints reporting. This has resulted in minor changes to previously provided statistics, but provides more accurate figures.