TABLE 1
Approx.
Numbers 2013 |
Sub-division A
State & Territory
Recognised Religious
(See Exempted Celebrants)
24,000 celebrants |
Sub-division B
State & Territory
Registry Offices
700 Marriage Officers |
Sub-division C
Independent Celebrants
(Civil & Non-Aligned Religious#)
10,500 celebrants |
| Income |
Stipend
& other support |
On
award wages |
Income Dependent
on the share of the ratio average number weddings per celebrant per year. See Table 2. |
| Av weddings pa |
1.48 |
12 |
< 7 |
| Annual income |
$ 20,000+ |
$30,000+ |
<$3,500 GROSS |
# Sub-division C Independent Non-aligned Religious Celebrants are offer two options to avoid this fee.
- Apply to become a Recognised Religion ie move to Sub-division A OR
- Resign and under Section 113 of the Marriage Act conduct marriage ceremonies without having to make the guests aware the ceremony is not legal, provided they are previously married. Not an option for Independent Civil Celebrants, making this fee only is mandatory for only independent CIVIL celebrants
This means the annual fee proposed affects only Commonwelath regulated independent civil celebrants who do 95% of civil weddings AND their marrying couples.
In 1999 the average annual remuneration for Commonwealth marriage celebrants was approximately $17,500 pa gross (adjusted) for an average of 35 weddings er celebrant pa compared with $3,500 pa gross in 2012 for an average of 7 weddings per celebrant pa. |
TABLE 3
No weddings pa |
% in 1999
(av. 35 weddings per celebrant pa) |
% in 2012
(av.7 weddings per celebrant pa)
|
| 10 -25 |
55.73% |
21.95% |
| 26-50 |
21.7% |
11.05 % |
| 51-100 |
12.1 % |
5.3 % |
| > 100 |
3.73% |
2.1% |
|
| NB Never been commercial/ business activity for our Subdivision – i.e. never a sustainable full time wage earning activity except for a small proportion of celebrants for over two decades. |
Equal pay for Equal work
Article 7 = International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ICESCR)) =
• recognizes the right of everyone to . . . . . just and favourable conditions of work which ensure, in particular:
(a) Remuneration which provides all workers, as a minimum, with:
(i) Fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value without distinction of any kind, in particular women being guaranteed conditions of work not inferior to those enjoyed by men, with equal pay for equal work.
NOTE:
• Approx. 70% of civil celebrants are women
• Over 80% of religious celebrants are men |
| Table 2 shows the correlation between the number of weddings per celebrant and their gross annual income |
TABLE 2.
Number of Weddings per celebrant pa
@ Av. $500 per wedding. |
Average GROSS Income of this group of celebrants. |
NET- PRE Tax Income
approx.
per annum
|
To enable remuneration for Commonwealth Celebrants. |
REDUCE
Celebrants Numbers TO |
ie REMOVE
this number Celebrants |
| 7 |
$3,500 |
nil |
- |
- |
| 10 |
$ 5,000 |
$ 500 |
7,200 |
3,300 (31.5%) |
| 25 |
$12,500 |
$ 4,500 |
2880 |
7,620 (72.5%) |
| 50 |
$25,000 |
$15,000 NB not a taxable income ! |
1440 |
9060 (86%) |
| 100 |
$ 50,000 |
$30,000 |
720 |
9780 (93%) |
|
| The rate of marriages is Australia is stable, ie a relatively fixed market at around 125,000 marriages pa. |
| |
CoCA strongly believes:
- “open market” is a flawed model.
- For Commonwealth marriage celebrants to receive fair recompense for their professional services as required by Article 7 International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (ICESCR)) and to retain parity with other subdivisions of celebrants measures need to be taken to balance the number of celebrants to the available work. eg
• re-introduce capping of numbers by independent assessment of the best applicant for the vacancies in a regional area based upon a 5 year cycle.
• strengthen the appointment criteria to be comparable with other professions
|
