Why it's important to lobby for a fair celebrant fee or none

Why do celebrants need to take a stand for a genuine community consultation?

Because who else will?

No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.
Agnes De Mille

But why bother .. I think this won't really affect me?

Think again ... Full cost recovery means the Professional Celebrant Fee will become higher with fewer celebrants.
Read more if you actually do think this will increase professionalism.

But why bother ... haven't they just made up their mind and there is nothing we can so anyway?

Well nothing will change, if we do nothing to change it. 

There is always a possibility of change, if enough people make lobby their MPs and Senators and make it public knowledge that what is happening.

• is an attack on civil and minority religious marriages
• will cost 60+% of the marrying public more money for their celebrant.

Secondly, the enormous size of this fee is not necessary if

• Sections 45, 46 and 47 were changed to reduce confusion
• broader educational opportunities were available for OPD
• the MLCS had a better computer, interactive website / data base and IT mechanism
• worked on the same model of marriage celebrant as applies to the religious celebrants
• the Marriage Law and Celebrant Section too a less punitive and more preventative / educative approach to their work

$ 4.2 million is based on increasing the MLSC to include more administrative and legal staff. This amount would not be necessary if a more preventative/ educative and less punitive approach were taken to Compliance.

These are the TWO messages we need to communicate to MPs and Senators

So there are times in each of our lives when we need to stand up and be counted.

Celebrants need to ensure the best way of doing things is followed, because those processes protect all citizens against ill-informed decisions made by governments.

A case of ensuring "the end is justified by the means"

The government is about to force a fundamental change in the way that civil and minority religious marriage celebrants will be treated and regulated that does not apply to the clergy and other recognised religious celebrants.

• Surely. if all the arguments in the Regulation Impact Statement were true as regards the validity of marriages and the competence of celebrants, then the same scrutiny would need to apply to all celebrants, particularly as recognised religious celebrants receive no specific training nor supervision over the legal aspects of their role?

• More importantly without any PRIOR public consultation when introducing a  discriminatory fee (whether it is large or small), how can the Office of Best Practice have assessed this Regulation Impact statement as 'adequate'?
• If the MLCS were used a preventive/ educative model rather than punitive, then such a high fee would not be needed.

No PRIOR general public nor PRIOR celebrant nor PRIOR celebrant association  nor even  PRIOR peak celebrant body consultation on whether the community needs or wants the Marriage Law and Celebrant Section  funded by

• an indirect discriminatory tax on 60 + % of marriages or

• tax payers money so all marriages are treated fairly.

What can you do?

The two most effective things you can do is

Write to your MP and state Senator simply stating

• The Office of Best Practice failed to adequately assess the Regulation Impact Statement
• 60% of marriages are about to be taxed without any prior public consultation
• the public will be paying for more public servants to correct problems that can be solved in other less costly ways
• the enormous size of the fee is not necessary if the MLSC was better informed
• the government should be taking the advice of its own celebrant peak body CoCA

• requesting that the introduction of this change be delayed until a valid community consultation happens.

Write to your local paper

• stating that 60% of marriages are about to be taxed without any prior public consultation
• the public will be paying for more public servants to correct problems that can be solved in other less costly ways
• the government should be taking the advice of its own celebrant peak body CoCA

• ask other people to lobby for a valid community consultation.
  
  Be informed as to the alternate ways of increasing professionalism and decreasing numbers
  And read more about things you can do
  Refer people to www.celebrantstequality.org.au
  

Are you not convinced this is an important issue involving discrimination?

The current issues facing the world of marriage celebrants are complex.

How the current Marriage Act works, is  an outcome of

• historical events
• attempts to correct problems, creating other problems and
• the widespread myth that civil marriage celebrants earn a lot of money

• Because of the wide spread myth that civil celebrants make heaps of money, or are in it only for the money?

• Because the AGD can divide and conquer .. not all associations belong to the peak body etc. .. and threaten us with loss of appointments, it would not dare to do to religious.

• Because of the 10 to 20% who believe that if a celebrant is only doing a few weddings a year, that means they are incompetent.

• Some have argued that if one looks at this issue in the broader context, the government cannot levy any sort of fee on the clergy. - that  any tax on individual religious celebrant could and would be seen to be a tax on religion.