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10 x 10 Plan for Fixing the Marriage Celebrant Program

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construction_workers_reading_blue_prints_lg_clr10 point by 10 Year Plan for Addressing Problems in the Marriage Celebrant Program

Tony Gelme's article raises many difficulties with the 2003 Changes to the Marriage Celebrant Program.

But what can be done about these ?

There are positives and negatives of both the Needs Based System and the Open Market system. There are changes in our society's approaches to employment overall - more and more people moving to working as contractors and home based businesses.

One could spend considerable time outlining these issues. Having been in several celebrant forums over the last ten years, I have heard most of them.

However, as convincing adults to change deep seated opinions is very difficult, as is turning back the clock, this article is based upon:

  • trying to identify the major difficulties in the current system,
  • making recommendations based upon the way civil celebrancy is evolving,
  • a wholistic, rather than a piece-meal, approach.

This article is also based on the belief that for major change to occur, the professional role of "celebrant for all occasions" needs to be acknowledged and supported by the Attorney General's Department.

As such the Department needs to do whatever it can to encourage and support the development of celebrancy, not just marriage celebrancy, as a profession.

Not because celebrants want to deliver a professional service and make a fair wage from their marriage work, as worthy as that is, but because the fabric of Australian society would be stronger, more caring and more respectful by having a meaningful and memorable ceremony added to its celebrations.

Other government departments have identified the heavy drinking culture of Australia, the high use of salt, fat and sugar laden foods as areas of major concern. Thus in various ways, having a "party" without a "ceremony" is an invitation for higher levels of dangerous and unhealthy behaviours .

Below are the major difficulties from my perspective. My apologies if parts of this article, repeat Tony Gelme's points, or previous e_magazine reports.
Post 2003 Changes
Difficulties
1.
In 1999/ 2000, the government had 6,000 calls pa of people seeking to be marriage celebrants

Putting in a training requirement was expected to reduce this demand and enable the government to deal with these requests more "fairly".
 Approximately 300% increase in the number of marriage celebrants since 2000.

In 1999, there were approx 1700 civil marriage celebrants (CMC) & 1700 non-aligned religious celebrants (NARC) with an average number of 32 weddings per celebrant per annum.

In 2010, there approx 8,000 CMCs and 2,000 NARCs, with an average number of less than 7 weddings per celebrant per annum.

One could question how "fair" it is for people to spend upwards of $5000 to establish themselves as a marriage celebrant, with little likelihood for most celebrants to be able to retrieve their set-up costs

Also whilst the new system deals with the requests for people seeking to be marriage celebrants, the demands upon the AGs Department have increased and much higher levels of staffing have been required as result.
2.
Redefinition of marriage celebrants as
  • small businesses, and
  • professionals, as well as
  • a government appointees
An effective small business provide can still only offer a 'marriage' service one or two days per week. Yet at the same time, they are being required to
  • fund a "professional" standard of service
  • in a highly competitive market
In effect,this has redefined most marriage celebrants to as "Charity Workers" (donating their time) or "Hobbyists (as defined by the Australian Tax Office.

Most professions require their trainees to have done 3 or more years full-time study and offer the ability to work a 35-40 hour week, if one chooses. This carries with it the ability to earn annual salaries over $40,000 - impossible from wedding ceremony work alone.

There are many government appointments subject to restriction, but not to open market forces.The marriage celebrant "Conflict of Interest" restriction creates confusion for those wanting to develop opportunities for other ceremony work in conjunction with other businesses.

Whilst redefining CMCs as "small business", the Government did not take up the celebrant associations' recommendations for appointment  of the full Cert IV in Marriage Celebrancy (1 marriage unit + 10 business units).

Perhaps this was because in combining the CMCs and NARCs under one category in the Marriage Act, the Attorney General (AG) considered it could not require the NARCs to do the business units.

Thus effectively reduced the level of appointment from 11 units of competency to 1, which its subsequent high levels of uptake. And not ensuring that the CMCs had the business training they would need to work in such a competitive environment.
3. An average number of less than 7 weddings per celebrant per annum. The part-time nature of marriage celebrant work, coupled with high competition, means anyone needing a full-time income, is required to continue to work full-time elsewhere to support themselves.

The consequence of this, is that a celebrant's ability to expand their celebrancy practice, and / or to practice their ceremonial skills via other ceremonies, is severely hampered.
4. Government's expectation was that other ceremonial (eg funerals) would have supplemented marriage work. Access to funeral celebrant work is to large degree is controlled by the Funeral Companies.

Large numbers of newly appointed marriage celebrants, turning to funeral work to try to make ends meet, reduces access to an adequate number of funerals to supplement marriage work.

Whilst there is an increasing interest in "newer" ceremonies, their promotion will be required by celebrants, and their associations.
5. Government was concerned about the aging cohort of marriage celebrants, wanting more ypunger celebrants. 70% of celebrants were over the age of 50 years.

The one unit training appointment requirement has attracted many women over 50 years of age, looking for part-time income or interests, to combine with caring for grandchildren, parents, or partners. These people too have limited time to practice their ceremonial skills via other ceremonies. So it is questionable about how successful the 2003 changes have been in this regard.

Also the previous 50:50 gender equality of the 2003 program has been replaced by a 'guestimate' of 20:80 male to female ratio.
6. Low entry standards for appointment pre-2010, and variation in the quality of  training provided by Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) in the Vocational Education & Training (VET) system RTOs have been able to encourage huge numbers of people into doing marriage celebrancy training on the basis of the low cost (time and money) of one unit for appointment,

Large numbers and many inadequately trained celebrants is impacting on the public perception of the high status of a marriage celebrant, which in turn over time could impact on the public's view of marriage

The raising of the training level of appointment from 1 competency unit to 13 units in the Full Certificate IV in Celebrancy should:

  • equip trainees with a broader view of work opportunities, and
  • allow for greater self and RTO assessment of the knowledge and skills of trainees before appointment.

pyramid_planning_lg_clrHowever it is not a solution on its own.

The attempt by the government to articulate Ongoing Professional Development OPD with the Certificate in Celebrancy has been a good move forward, but does not go far enough. In essence this current OPD program is attempting to fill in the gaps in pre-appointment training, without celebrants being able to use their OPD to upgrade their qualifications.

At this stage, the field has approximately 10000 celebrants, almost none of whom have the current qualification. And an OPD program that will require celebrants to spend $500 to $1000 over the next five years, without that spending being directly converted to the Cert IV in Celebrancy qualifications.

The following recommendations use the "carrot" approach, as much as possible, to raise standards through
* cooperation between celebrant associations via CoCA and the Attorney General's Department,
and
* allowing time for longer-term celebrants, and some newer ones, to phase out or retire without having to upgrade their qualifications, unless they choose to do so.

Some of these recommendations can be addressed by CoCA without AG involvement. But gaining agreement to this approach by all the stakeholders and getting the all the recommendations in place could take 2 to 3 years.

Thus such changes may take a decade before most celebrants would have the new qualifications, and relevant accreditation/s. This would give current celebrants a five to ten year period to adjust or retire. Nor would creating a high standard climate  force any celebrant to undertake extra training or accreditation, if they did not wish to do so.

However a national comprehensive and consistent approach to the development of celebrancy as a profession in its own right, with national government support, would be best for the Australian community. And in turn for its passionate and dedicated celebrants, regardless of the particular specialties in which they may choose to work.

10 Recommendations

Aim Strategy
1. Ensure a uniform high baseline of knowledge and skills prior to appointment of all Marriage Celebrants
  • All new Marriage celebrant applicants to do an independent assessment for a fee to test knowledge and skill of the 5 core and 4 electives of the Cert IV in Celebrancy. This could be out-sourced by the AG.
  • CoCA and Marriage Celebrant Section to establish the criteria and process for this pre-appointment assessment - see point 3. This needs to include ceremonial aspects, designing ceremonies to meet individual needs, and other general issues, not just legalities, as the ability to perform competently in these aspects is legally required by the Code of Practice.
2. Raise the standard of all celebrants appointed prior to the new requirement, to attain that requirement of Cert IV in Celebrancy

and 

create a climate of professional development in all areas of celebrancy
  • Encourage all current marriage celebrants who choose to, to gain the Cert IV in Celebrancy via OPD and CoCA accreditation
  • OPD approvals for units of the Cert IV whether via face to face; distance or recognition of prior learning (RPL) in line with current government policies about Up-skilling the Nation, and the VET endorsement of the value of RPL.
  • ensure that OPD provides a wide range of levels of training opportunities for celebrants, especially at an advanced level, and to meet adult education guidelines
3. Celebrant associations via CoCA establish and promote to the public, a national standard for Marriage Celebrants
  • CoCA in conjunction the MCS, establish a national accreditation for Marriage Celebrants based upon the assessment outlined in 1.
4. Celebrant associations via CoCA establish and promote to the public, a national standard for Funeral Celebrants
  • CoCA establish a national accreditation for Funeral Celebrants based upon a similar process to assessment outlined in 1. ie knowledge and skills for 5 core units plus 4 funeral units and loss and grief issues
5. Celebrant associations via CoCA establish and promote to the public, a national standard for Family/ Community Celebrants
  • CoCA establish a national accreditation for Family/ Community Celebrants based upon a similar process to assessment outlined in 1. ie knowledge and skills for 5 core units plus 4 general celebrancy units (see point 6)
6. Establish a Diploma of Celebrancy by the addition of units such as Performance Skills, Group Work Skills, Psychology/Sociology of Ceremony, Ceremonies for Couples (Anniversary, Renewals, Commitment, Civil Unions) Ceremonies for Individuals (Coming of Teenage, Coming of Adult Citizenship Age, Birthdays, Eldering, Graduation), Ceremonies for Groups (Re-Unions, Businesses, Communities)
  • CoCA to invite RTOs to prepare units for submission to the Skills Council for the expansion of options under the Cert IV and to extend the Cert IV to a Diploma of Celebrancy
7. Gain Government Support for a broader range of ceremonies eg Engagement/ Betrothals, Wedding Anniversaries, Milestone Birthdays, Coming of Teenage, Commitment, Coming of Adult Citizenship Age, Coming of Retirement Age, Eldering, Community Service Appreciation, etc.
  • CoCA to prepare a submission for the development of a range of Commonwealth Certificates, that can be used by marriage celebrants
8

Government to insure all Centrelink Services have a accurate estimate of:

  • the set up costs of running a home based business as a marriage celebrant
  • the average number of weddings per celebrant in Australia
  • the average of the number of years for work before set-up costs are reimbursed
  • the average hourly rate per celebrant based on the annual running costs/ average number of weddings

CoCA to prepare a submission to the AG requesting this information to be provided:

  • to all Centrelink Centres
  • to all unemployed persons support services
  • on the AG's website for aspiring celebrants
9. The promotion of the national standards above to the Australian community MCS upgrade their website to include as much information and support for marriage celebrants as possible. eg. Compulsory Information notes could be loaded on the webste

CoCA to establish a national website to distribute information on :
  • the role of CoCA
  • its member celebrant associations
  • the national standards above
CoCA to prepare a submission for funding for the development and implementation of recommendations 3 to 7, and 10.
10. A review of the marriage celebrant program to identity any other areas of concern, and other possible solutions to repair the damage of the over-supply of marriage celebrants from the 2003 Changes

eg Government could establish a "Buy Back" Scheme, offering $1000 to all marriage celebrants who hand in their appointments and retire.		 Upon request from the AGs, CoCA  to prepare a detailed submission to the AG for the Review of the 2003 Changes

Where to from here?
  • Discuss these ideas with colleagues.
  • Please let us know your opinions here This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • Let your celebrant association know your ideas, so your CoCA reps will be better informed about grass roots concerns and suggested solutions
  • Celebrants who are not members of any celebrant assocation may contact me also This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  • Be proactive
  • Things won't change unless we, as celebrants, act to change them

Rona Goold
ACCN Director.

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