You probably got that email sent to all celebrants about the Marriage Regulations legislation and the “new” requirement in the code of practice regarding “reasonable and timely responses” to requests from marrying couples. This episode of the Celebrant Talk Show podcast also covers service contracts in regards to tropical cyclones approaching Brisbane and our encouragement to you to conduct a risk analysis of your celebrancy business.
The email:
Dear Marriage Celebrant
As you will be aware, in 2024 some changes to the Marriage Act 1961 (the Act) took place as part of the Attorney General’s Portfolio Miscellaneous Measures Act 2024. Some updates to the Marriage Regulations 2017 (the Regulations) were required to keep them consistent with the changes to the Act.
In particular, the Code of Practice for marriage celebrants (schedule 2 of the Regulations) now clarifies that a high standard of services includes “reasonable and timely responses to requests by the parties to an intended marriage”. This clarification was requested by our stakeholders during consultation on the changes to the Act. The update makes clear the longstanding expectation in relation to how celebrants conduct themselves generally.
Other changes to the Regulations provide a mechanism for managing arrangements around celebrant authorisation under a single subdivision, also in line with the 2024 amendments to the Act.
We thank all who contributed to the related consultations. For a number of reasons it has taken longer than we would have hoped to confirm these updates to the Regulations to all celebrants. While it is unlikely that the changes would have disadvantaged celebrants in any way, nonetheless this notification should have reached you earlier and we apologise for the delay. We have implemented improved processes for any future changes to ensure they are communicated more promptly.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Kind regards, Marriage Law and Celebrants Section
