PLEASE NOTE:
Click here for Final ACCN Submission to Human Rights Consultation
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ACCN submission to the Human Rights Consultation.
Focus: An expanded role for a government appointed independent self-employed civil celebrant |
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Introduction
“A platypus is an animal created by a committee” is a common joke about committee work and achievements.
Well it may look strange, but platypus lives, eats, sleeps, reproduces, works and has fun. It is perfectly adapted to its environment.
Committees can and do make significant contributions to people lives. So why not the Human Rights Consultative Committee ?
As is known with solving other complex problems, the answer is not necessarily simple nor easy. Rather it lies in taking the best aspects of the old system of marriage celebrant appointment and the new, along with new opportunities – to develop an approach for the environment we now live within, whilst at the same time looking towards the future.
From my perspective there are a number of common threads that could be woven together to formulate an approach to a future expansion of the Marriage Celebrant role in Australia, to include the role of Civics Ambassador.
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Therefore the ACCN is preparing a draft submission for the Human Rights Consultation. I would appreciate any feedback on this submission as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely
Rona Goold
ACCN Director
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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NOTE: Submissions to this Human Rights Consultation, established by the AG, are currently being called for. Deadline 15th June 2009. To make a submission Click here
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DRAFT SUBMISSION
Summary of Proposal
The role of civil marriage celebrant be revised and expanded to include being a "Civics Ambassador" ie having responsibilities related to human/citizens rights.
NB Civics -" the study of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship"
Ambassador - "authorized messenger or representative or unofficial representative: ambassadors of goodwill."
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The overall direction of the "Civics Ambassador/ Civil Celebrants" program, including policy and guideline development for the Civics Ambassador component and the administration of the Marriage Act & Regulations, remaining the responsibility of the Federal Attorney General |
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This would include
* establishing essential training and fit and proper person guidelines for appointment. Such guidelines to include prior work as a celebrant.
* establishing guidelines for OPD
* appointing Civil Celebrants upon recommendations from Electoral Celebrant Advisory Committees
* collect annual data on celebrants stats, OPD, etc
* maintain a register of celebrants etc
* provide complaints mechanism for the general public and celebrants
* review appointments as required by the Act |
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Re-establishing a clear division between appointments as either civil appointments or religious appointments ie no longer appointing celebrants as both civil and religious celebrants.
The applicant thus would be required to affirm where their primary loyalty lay, rather than the government.
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A "grandfather" clause for all existing marriage celebrants appointees. A moratorium on all appointments whilst the program is revised. Then all new appointments made under the new Civil Celebrant Program.
NB This would not stop people becoming celebrants for all other ceremonies, other than weddings. Rather encourage people to be experienced in delivering ceremonies before being appointed to conduct weddings.
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The recommendations for the level of community need, and the specific personnel for appointment of Civics Ambassador/Civil Celebrant, would be made by an Advisory Committee established in each Australian federal electorate for that purpose. |
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The role of Electoral Civics Ambassador/Civil Celebrant Advisory Committee would be to
* decide on the level of Civil Celebrant numbers to meet community need in their electorate
* establish local criteria for appointment in addition to AG's requirements
* advertise for and shortlist to interview those candidates that meet AG and local criteria
* interview, select and make recommendations for appointment to the AG
* review the appointment levels on a regular basis
* oversight the development of a Citizenship Ceremony program |
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NB Such committees would be
* chaired by the local MP
* meet every two years
* have community reps such as a local Mayor, media personnel, celebrant association rep. etc.
* voluntary committee involvement, but out-of-pocket expenses funded from MP budget |
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Civil celebrants being involved in schools and community based programs aimed at promoting good-will, courtesy and respect for all human beings. |
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Civil celebrants being involved in a Citizenship Ceremony program ie the regular holding of ceremonies for all Australian born people who turn 18 years, and for all overseas born people being granted Australian citizenship rights. |
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In a similar way to the way the Marriage Act requires some minimal requirements to be met, guidelines for such ceremonies could be formulated by the AGs. The specific components of the ceremony would left for local communities to develop in consultation with the Civics Ambassador/Civil Celebrant Advisory Committee, local celebrants and representatives of local communities and schools |
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The role of Celebrant Associations or networks of associations would be to:
* advise the AG on celebrancy related issues such as celebrant training, OPD, current implementation and any future changes to the Marriage Act and Regulations
* advocate to government on behalf of members
* provide information and support to members
* establish voluntary accreditation processes to enable celebrants who wish to, to have their knowledge and expertise further assessed and credited. |
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Note: |
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This proposal may seem ambitious and rather short of detail. It is not.
It must be remembered that the current availability of civil ceremonies, not just for weddings, has developed in less than 40 years.
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This is a remarkably short period of time in terms of social change for a program, based on human rights, that required minimal support by government.
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It is a tribute to the knowledge, expertise and humanity of a large number of Australian celebrants that our society has ceremonies where all citizens regardless of religion, race, gender, age, ability etc can come together as one group and be treated with equal dignity and respect by the celebrant, |
From my experience of being actively involved on the committee of a national non-profit celebrant association,meeting and communicating with over a thousand celebrants in the last decade, and being involved in the Review of the Marriage Celebrant Training program , I believe:
* the current structures can be modified with minimal hassle, if there is the will to do so for the common good for our communities.
* celebrants as a group have the experience and creativity amongst our ranks to rise to the challenge
* such a revised program would provide both stability and flexibility for the development of civil celebrancy over the next 50 years
* whilst supporting the ongoing development of Australia as a free democratic society for whom many of our forebears gave their lives. |
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Back ground information and assumptions
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Evolution of role of self employed independent civil celebrant
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The role of independent civil marriage celebrant in Australia has evolved into the role of a “civil celebrant for all occasions”
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This is evidenced by the expansion of the Certificate IV in Marriage Celebrancy into a Certificate IV in Celebrancy, which will be required from 3/2/2010 for appointment as a Civil Marriage Celebrant
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This evolving civil celebrant role has many similarities with the role played by religious celebrants in community life, and is one that could be enhanced by participation in other aspects of civil life, such as citizenship ceremonies, ceremonies for Australia day, ANZAC day, and other ceremonies of civil importance, and in participating in programs aimed at enhancing civil behaviours in communities.
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Those similarities are that much of the intent of the religious celebrants work is to support human beings in finding the "right" relationship with themselves, with others, with their community and their world, including their "God" however that is defined by the specific religion. To do such requires one to work as family and community worker. In some cases, teacher, educator, psychologist, counsellor, social worker, community developer, human rights activist. |
More information |
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As such the placement of the Celebrant Training in the Community Services section of the VET system would allow for additional units to be developed, should the government endorse a broader future role for celebrants |
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Separation of the powers of church and state have had a long and at times bloody battle to grant us, as Australian citizens, with democracy many of us enjoy today. However Australia is but one democracy and our human rights freedoms cannot be taken for granted. Geoffrey Robertson QC outlines come of these points in his talk titled "Why Australia needs a Bill of Rights"
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More information |
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In many cases, religious beliefs have been used to continue to practise discrimination on the basis of age (children), gender (women), sexual attracted-ness (gay and lesbian people), ability (people with physical or mental disabilities) etc.
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On an international level, it can be seen that when the “state” replaces its law based upon citizens rights, with law determined by religious texts or ideology eg Sharia law, then the rights of women, child, people with disabilities etc suffer.
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In recent times there has been a blurring of the lines between civil and religious celebrants (a person can be appointed by the AGs both as a civil and a religious celebrant) and in the accommodation of religious material in wedding ceremonies at the request of the couple, primarily to accommodate those couples, who for various reasons were unable to access a marriage ceremony in their own religion (there was at time when civil celebrants were not allowed to do anything that could be seen to be religious). The latter is not to say that such material is not able to be included. Rather that it be only done if initiated by the couple/ family and conducted in a manner that upholds the independent position of the civil celebrant. |
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Origins of the civil Marriage Celebrant Program were based on principles related to human rights.
ie in providing a secular alternative to a religious ceremony for those Australians who had no religious faith. |
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The independent civil celebrant in a democratic society, with and enhanced role and training, has a unique opportunity to:
• inspire individuals, couples and families to build more harmonious supportive relationships
• provide a framework through which individuals, couples and families can be supported during times of major changes in their lives
• acknowledge times and roles past, articulating achievements, in learning from mistakes and moving on from failures and successes
• provide a vision of future roles and relationships, offering guidance to encourage and support change for optimum health of all concerned
• inform and educate on issues related to marriage, family and community life, loss and grief, managing change, "civilised" behaviour in a modern day context, human/citizens rights and responsibilities. |
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The original appointment system was gender balanced and needs based per government electorate, the celebrant role viewed as a community service, and recommended by a government set fee.
Appointees were required to have done volunteer community service work, public speaking and endorsed by their federal MP. |
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Its strengths : community service focused, needs based, clear division between civil and religious ceremony appointments, strong conflict of interest provisions, uniform competition, ratio of wedding work per celebrant average in 1994 approx. 50 weddings pa per celebrant, in 1999 approx 20 pa, cooperation and support could contribute to creativity, candidate known as community worker/ leader and endorsed by local federal MP
Its weaknesses : lack of consistent universal training, no performance reviews, lack flexibility to adjust numbers for local community needs, poor complaints mechanisms, no code of practice, ceremonial aspects not recognised legally, appointments based on "first in-best dressed", but not select on the most suitable applicant, being appointed. |
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The current appointment system requires a basic minimal standard of training, and has lost its community service requirements, beyond performing the marriage ceremony on behalf of Australian Government.
The open market approach has in effect redefined marriage celebrants as small business. However, the ongoing supply of potential celebrants being trained and ever increasing numbers being appointed without limits, for what is essentially weekend only wedding work, has resulted in reducing marriage celebrancy to the tax status of a "hobby" for the vast majority of celebrants.
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Its strengths : consistent universal training program, performance reviews, poor complaints mechanisms, code of practice, ceremonial aspects recognised legally, ongoing OPD requirements, competitive edge can contribute to creativity.
Its weaknesses : not community service focused, no clear division between civil and religious ceremony appointments, conflict of interest provisions not as clear, uneven / unfair level of competition for a government appointment, current ratio of weddings per celebrant is now estimated at 8 per year and dropping, candidate not necessarily community worker/ leader , not necessarily known by and not endorsed by local federal MP, lack of requirements for and flexibility to adjust numbers for local community needs, appointments not selected by interview to ensure most suitable applicants appointed for ceremonial work.
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The Commonwealth AG is responsible for human rights and other legal matters which impact upon (and are influenced by) marriage and family life.
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In addition to Marriage and Family Law (that incorporates the Marriage Celebrant Program), the Federal Attorney General is also responsible, amongst other matters, for human rights, Indigenous law and justice, law reform, legislative drafting.
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NB Human rights issues relate to issues of race, gender, ability/disability, age, religion/no religion, and equality of access to justice, education, employment, health, etc.
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Domestic Human Rights Action:
The Commonwealth AG has said - “The Rudd Government is serious about its international human rights responsibilities and obligations ….. and equally conscious of, and committed to, human rights at home…… (and) want to hear the Australian people’s views on the protection of human rights.” “ Ultimately, the consultation will seek community views on how best to protect and promote human rights and responsibilities.
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Community development strategies are needed to reinforce “civilised" behaviour, based on an understanding of human rights and the rights and responsibilities of adult citizens in Australia |
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George Williams (Foundation Director, Gilbert & Tobin Centre of Public Law, Uni NSW) states that “A 1994 inquiry found that Australians of all ages did not have basic knowledge about the system of government and our rights and responsibilities as citizens’ ………
that ”Classroom teaching is not enough to instill foundational knowledge and values. If the Government is serious about Australians knowing more about how they are governed and being good citizens, it needs to take a broader approach. “ …. (and) …. must be reinforced outside the classroom. ……..
that …… “ Most importantly, the Government should recognise the futility of educating people about being an active citizen when there are too few opportunities for them to become one. We need to make changes so that how we are governed reflects the values we are seeking to promote. We need more democratic engagement as part of a system based upon popular ownership, rather than a disconnected community.” |
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Separation of church and state functions are important for the continuance of rule of law based on human rights.
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Humans right are based upon a fundamental principle that as a human being had no choice his or her being born with its associated genetic, family, social, economic and cultural circumstances, then he or she could not be blamed for/ or treated with less dignity and respect than any other human being.
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Separation of the powers of church and state have had a long and at times bloody battle to grant us, as Australian citizens, with democracy many of us enjoy today. However Australia is but one democracy and our human rights freedoms cannot be taken for granted.
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In many cases, religious beliefs have been used to continue to practise discrimination on the basis of age (children), gender (women), sexual attracted-ness (gay and lesbian people), ability (people with physical or mental disabilities) etc.
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On an international level, it can be seen that when the “state” replaces its law based upon citizens rights, with law determined by religious texts or ideology eg Sharia law, then the rights of women, child, people with disabilities etc suffer. |
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In recent times there has been a blurring of the lines between civil and religious celebrants (a person can be appointed by the AGs both as a civil and a religious celebrant) and in the accommodation of religious material in wedding ceremonies at the request of the couple, primarily to accommodate those couples, who for various reasons were unable to access a marriage ceremony in their own religion (there was at time when civil celebrants were not allowed to do anything that could be seen to be religious)
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Human rights not only means respect for people of different religious faiths, it also means respect for people with no religious faith. |
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There are opportunities for religious celebrants to be involved in primary and secondary school life, in religious education and in Schools Chaplaincy Program that allocates $25,000 per school for a chaplain.
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Are there however, equal rights for civil celebrants to participate in those areas currently accessed by religious celebrants ?
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There is opportunity for the redefinition of the civil marriage celebrant role into one of a Civics Ambassador and Civil Celebrant (Chaplain) for schools and community work.
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The AG department allocates large amounts of public money into family services but makes minimal use of civil celebrants because its focus until now has been on their role in relation to marriage only.
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A fair proportion of domestic human rights abuses happened within Australian families – domestic violence, child neglect and abuse – and result from both family of origin causes and the impact of changes in society.
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Policy decisions could be made to utlise the Schools Chaplaincy cy programs funds, and time allocated for religious education to re-define the role of civil marriage celebrant into one of a Civics Ambassador and Civil Celebrants/ Chaplains
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The government could establish two Citizenship programs
• A schools based “Being a Civilised Australian” program with a focus on "comparative religion" studies as related to Human Rights issues and articulated with any existing Ethics and Citizenship education programs ie to teach the Declaration of Human Rights and how the rights and responsibilities of Australian citizens are continuing to be developed and maintained in our country, # and
• A community based “Citizenship Domestic Ambassador” program to promote and support courteous and respectful attitudes and behaviour at all stages of a citizen’s live.
# Note:
1. It would appear that there are currently education programs teaching students aspects of human rights and citizenship.
2. It is assumed that such programs
• outline the "Rights and Responsibilities of Australian citizen.
• establish the basic principles upon which those rights are to be respected and maintained, ie Articles 1 and 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. See Below.
3. Time limits do not permit researching how these work or how they articulate with religious education.
4. Such programs appear to separate from time periods allocated for religious education.
NB Any information from celebrants or others knowledgeable about this would be most appreciated. Please contact us
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A schools based “Being a Civilised Australian” program:
Given the increasing secular nature of our Australia community, the aims and protocols for religion education in state schools and state funded schools needs to be reviewed and revised to meet the needs of a multi-cultural multi-religious and non-religious society.
A comparison of different religious belief systems would show that most religions have a common core of attitudes and values that respect human rights.
Therefore the time currently allocated for religious education in state schools could be revamped to provide two strands:
a. Ethics and Comparative Religions Studies where the basic tenets of each major religion is outlined, and
b. Australian Citizenship Studies, promoting human rights as the responsibility of all Australians, and especially those people who are more capable and/or having with more resources as more responsible to protect those less fortunate members of our society. For it has been said that the measure of how “civilised society” is, is how well it treats its most vulnerable people” .
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A community based “Citizenship Domestic Ambassador” & Civil Celebrant program:
There is already funding for a “National Schools Chaplaincy Program.” Program, which provides each school with $25,000 pa to provide a School Chaplain, that could be incorporated into a schools based Ethics and Citizenship Education program. Being a state funded program, it can be argued that such positions should be open to “civil chaplains” who have studied "comparative religion” and who are able to promote tolerance of differing religious viewpoints and even tolerance of no religious beliefs, provided such a person acts with integrity, courtesy and respect in relation to other citizens and upholds the human rights of others.
The role of independent Attorney General appointed “secular” celebrants for marriages was established in the 1970s. Many such celebrants have expanded their work in providing secular ceremonies for funerals, memorials, welcoming of babies into families, renewal of marriage vows, commitment or partnership ceremonies of gay and lesbian couples, birthdays and wedding anniversaries, coming of teenage and coming of age ceremonies.
Many people, who apply to become civil celebrants are mature age people, who already have counselling and teaching/ education skills and in many cases, are parents or grandparents with life experiences such that they see the need to serve their communities via a civil celebrancy role.
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Civil marriage celebrants are responsible for providing information to couples on relationship education services. However this information would be better presented at Coming of Age or Engagement ceremonies. By the time most couples present for marriage to civil celebrants, they have already been living together and in many cases already have started their families.
And in terms of couples knowing their rights and responsibilities, there are some simple information steps that can be taken. For example, requiring a couple to sign a document, similar to their Notice of Intended Marriage or their Marriage Declaration (Form 14), could serve several purposes. Not only would it alert some less informed or empowered individuals of their rights, it would also grant the celebrant the opportunity to discuss relationship education services with more authority. Of itself, as a Information Sheet, it would have little legal significance, but its potential as a tool for education in various ways useful.
Not only would the form verify the celebrant that performed some of their basic duties correctly, the form could encourage association membership and support for the celebrant. Not applicable could be an acceptable notation for that section of the form, but could alert the celebrant to the possibility of membership.
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Draft of such a form prepared and presented in a submission to the federal government in 2001. Draft Sample here - Click on photo to enlarge.
There are opportunities for inclusion of statements that promote and support respectful caring relationships, appropriate to the context and the life stage of the people for whom the ceremony has been designed and for their guests.
Thus authorised civil marriage celebrants, who perform other ceremonies could be selected and trained with the view to being a key component of schools based “Being an Australian Citizen” program. Units on citizenship and comparative religion tailored for this role in schools could be incorporated into the Certificate IV in Celebrancy soon to be required for appointment as a civil marriage celebrant.
The culmination of the schools program would be a “Citizenship Ceremony” for every Australian turning 18 years of age. Such ceremonies could be hosted and coordinated by the civil celebrants in that electorate, working in cooperation with their local federal and state MPs.
Given the increasing secular nature of our Australia community, once people leave schools the person who is most likely to be chosen to “celebrate” their major rites of passage are civil celebrants.
If civil marriage celebrants’ roles were enhanced to include some work with in the schools context as Civil Chaplains well as “Ambassadors of Citizens Rights and Responsibilities’ then there would be ongoing promotion of caring respectful attitudes and values to Australian families within their ceremonial roles as well.
Civil Celebrants are developing and leading civil ceremonies for a whole range of rites of passage. Some of these are:
• children start school (coming of school age)
• moving to high school (coming of teenage)
• leaving school (coming of age/having full rights and responsibilities as citizens)
• getting engaged (betrothals),
• being married (weddings),
• starting a family (namings),
• burying family and friends etc.
As the author and journalist Kerry Cue states “The right words at the right time can save lives”.
The role of the modern civil celebrant is to find those “right words”, to highlight the importance of human relationships to our well being and to provide some guidance to appropriate behaviour for those present as ceremonies in terms of the future relationships as couples, as parents, as family members and as friends.
At present the Civil Marriage Celebrant program is overseen by the Federal Attorney General’s Department. Along side the Marriage Celebrant program, are programs being developed aimed at Family Relationships, Anti-Discrimination, Crime Prevention, Community Justice, Indigenous Rights etc.
Therefore it should be possible to incorporate the potential for a broader range of duties than just weddings, into the role of civil marriage celebrant.
The civil marriage celebrant program’s appointment process now comprises of two parts – a Training components soon to be a Certificate IV in Celebrancy and a “Fit and Proper Person” status.
The assessment for the latter category could be done via interview by a Citizenship and Celebrancy Appointment Advisory Committee in each electorate, chaired by the MP for that electorate.
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Via this process an “Aussie-born” Citizenship Ceremony could be developed in each electorate to be conducted at least annually for all those young Australians who turn 18, perhpas on Australia Day.
Obviously the demographics would affect how many and how often such ceremonies would need to be held. Representatives from different schools could be involved in the planning and delivery of these ceremonies but an important component of such ceremonies would be that they would be held in civic centres or venues that reinforce the diversity of the community into which they now will be entering.
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Whilst some celebrants have conducted "Coming of Age" Ceremonies, they are still rare. Certificates have been created for such occasions. See example opposite.
Note: Certain information has been removed for privacy reasons.
In Australia, the focus on the 18th Birthday appears more to be celebrating the right to buy and drink alcohol. Rather than it is about being informed about all the legal consequences of reaching an age where one is able to exercise most of the rights of full Australian Citizenship, and also to held held accountable for all the responsibilities that accompany that status.
One aspect of such a ceremony could be the presentation of a Certificate of Adulthood or Certificate of Australian Citizenship. Certificates have been created for such occasions, and could be used as an example of the type of certificate than could be used. See example opposite.
Competitions could be held within electoral areas for young people and adults to come up with designs for the borders of such certificates, or perhaps to indivdualise the Certificate Holders that they could be placed within.
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Such an Australian Citizenship For All Australians ceremony with its certification, held in civic venues, would then form a guide post towards which parents, teachers, celebrants and others could work towards and enforce at other times in our lives
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Likewise, the ceremonies and celebrations could involve some planning and participation by younger people working with Civic Ambassador/ Civil Celebrants and others for both "Coming of Teenage" ceremonies and the "Australian Citizenship" Ceremony.
TV programs like Australian Idol show there is a huge well on untapped talent and energy that could be directed into these civic events. Likewise, increased attendance at ANZAC Day ceremonies indicate a need for meaningful celebrations that inspire us all to live more fully, more humanely and peacefully.
These are examples of ways we as civil celebrants could assist the government and our communities to engage with the democratic system we live within ..... to fulfill an aspect mentioned by George Williams above ... "Most importantly, the Government should recognise the futility of educating people about being an active citizen when there are too few opportunities for them to become one. We need to make changes so that how we are governed reflects the values we are seeking to promote. We need more democratic engagement as part of a system based upon popular ownership, rather than a disconnected community."
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Remember: |
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A candle loses nothing of its light by lighting another candle.
James Keller
Reference: click here |
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Civility carries with it the essence of courtesy, politeness and consideration of others. All the education and accomplishments in the world will not count for much unless they are accompanied by marks of gentility, of respect for others, or going the extra mile.
Gordon B Hinckley,
Reference: click here
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| Articles 1 and 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These are: |
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Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereign
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