V12 CoCA (Coalition of Celebrant Associations) update

February 2011

CoCA (Coalition of Celebrant Associations) has made considerable progress, in the development of

• cooperative relationships between COCA members
• its Constitution
• and in its relationship with the Attorney General's Department.

CoCA has also established its own website - www.CoCA.org.au - where celebrants may take note of  COCA associations and their delegates and summaries of CoCA's activities.

The following is a summary of the two day meeting CoCA (Coalition of Celebrant Associations) held in Canberra in December 2010. One full day was devoted to internal COCA business and planning for the meeting with the Department and the Attorney General the following day.

A very productive one day meeting was held with representatives of the Department, during which the Attorney General briefly visited to acknowledge the progress made in COCA being recognised by the AG's Department as the peak advisory body for celebrancy in Australia.

SUMMARY: 

1. The various associations that currently form CoCA (see www.CoCA.org.au -) and the Attorney General's Department have entered into a Protocol that now confirms CoCA as the peak body for marriage celebrants in Australia by the AG's Department.

2.  CoCA has set its constitution and agreed to incorporate, preferably in the ACT, and has its constitution finalised. This fact impressed both the Departmental Officers and the Attorney General.

3. The Humanist Celebrant Network delegate tabled a motion of 'gay marriage'. "This Marriage Celebrant  Peak Body, The Coalition Of Celebrant Associations calls upon the  Attorney General and the present government to support the legal right  of all adult couples in Australia to be married if they so choose, and  for that marriage to be recognised and registered by law in Australia,  regardless of the sexual orientation, or gender, of the parties to the marriage." The CCN seconded the motion. Charles provided some very thoughtful and useful information on the topic for delegates.

CoCA Delegates agreed to return to their Committees and association members to discuss what each association's position would be, and to discuss and vote in COCA's online voting process.

4. The Humanist Celebrant Network delegate also proposed a motion : "That Section 47(a)  of the Marriage Act 1961 be  extended to include ALL Marriage Celebrants (not just Ministers of Religion) so that all marriage celebrants would have the right to refuse to solemnise a marriage".

Whilst this was seen initially as assisting  in alleviating certain Civil  Celebrant concerns, a number of current difficulties unrelated to 'gay' marriage were identified.

These were where the celebrant perceived a tension between

• upholding the 'dignity of marriage' on the on hand and
• meeting the couple's expectations or wishes"  as to  the exact nature of their ceremony on the other - as required by the Act and the Code of Practice.

Unanimously agreed by COCA delegates that the Act and Regulations did not support celebrants where a celebrant may over-ride the couple's wishes, and was thus unprotected from litigation.

5. CoCA proposed a number of key steps to the AG's Department to improve the professionalism of celebrants.

NB Thursday was spent on the following points and then presented to the AGs Department in a day long joint meeting on Friday.

a. A pre-appointment knowledge & skills assessment to be managed by a panel of trainers and to be self-funding to be proposed to the AGs Department. ie the applicant pays for this. CCN motion unanimously agreed to be COCA.

b. Cert IV units to be included in OPD options. COCA's OPD report to the AG. Unanimously agreed to by COCA delegates.

c. A revised of Code of Practice to cover our Occupational Health and Safety concerns. Initially work on by ACQ and others. Then by Charles Foley Humanist Celebrant Network's delegate and  and Rona Goold CCN Inc representative. Unanimously agreed to by COCA delegates.

d. A request for clear principles for the Conflict of Interest provisions to be made available. Unanimously agreed to by COCA delegates.

e. Various recommendations were made regarding improving the AG's Marriage section of the website - Frequency Asked Questions; Fact Sheets; E-Bulletins as down-loadable PDF files, as well as a clearer section on the viability of Marriage Celebrancy as a profession / full or part-time employment. Unanimously agreed to by COCA delegates.

f. Viability of Marriage Celebrancy as a profession / full or part-time employment to be raised with Centrelink and other employment search support services. Unanimously agreed to by COCA delegates. NB  The AG's had already started investigating this issue.

g. The need for accurate statistics upon which CoCA and the AGs could base fore-ward planning. Unanimously agreed to by COCA delegates.

h. The current OPD program's limitations - lack of celebrancy input in AusTender, too few OPD providers, Distance OPD needing an assessment of time to complete so Distance Learners not disadvantaged by having to "work" and spend more than the time requirement; lack of appropriate sessions for more experienced celebrants. Unanimously agreed to by COCA delegates.

i. Need for fore-ward planning for the 2013 OPD process. Unanimously agreed to by COCA delegates.

j. Removing the discrimination in Section 47a was recommended to the AG Department  as outlined above.

k.  A suggestion made by the AGs Department that a joint communicate be issued so that the celebrant community would be able to see the issues raised by CoCA and the joint work being done by COCA and the Department.