V3 Future OPD, Celebrant Training, Human Rights Consultation

Celebrant Training:

The full Certificate IV in Celebrancy will be the minimum training requirement for registration as a marriage celebrant from 3 February 2010. This will be come into effect 12 months from the date upon which the new training package was released,

This new Community Services Training Package has been published on the National Training Information Service website and is now available. The qualification code for the Certificate IV in Celebrancy is CHC42608.

Currently appointed celebrants will not have to complete this qualification, though there may be some opportunity to do some of the units of the program as OPD non compulsory options.

This new appointment qualification will be a huge change in the appointment process as potential marriage celebrants will need to complete 13 units instead of one. Increased expense and time commitment may slow the take up of this career option by people wanting a quick entry into part-time work.

National Human Rights Consultation

Robert McClelland, Federal Attorney General announced a National Human Rights consultation on the 10th December 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.

The consultation is chaired by Father Frank Brennan, and assisted by Mick Palmer, Mary Kostakidis and Tammy Williams, all distinguished Australians, each bringing a variety of perspectives which McClelland considers will enable them to "perform an outstanding role in canvassing the views of the Australian people" on three issues:

• What fundamental rights and freedoms do Australians regard as requiring protection?
• Are those fundamental rights and freedoms sufficiently protected?
• Should we be doing something to further promote and protect those fundamental rights and freedoms?

The ACCN Director Rona Goold and husband Steve Carey attended the first consultation at 1pm on Wednesday 11th February 2009 at the Queanbeyan Conference Centre.

Participants were invited to share their specific concerns in an open forum, then to work in groups documenting on butcher's paper the human right's issues each group considered important for Australians to uphold.

Examples of 'rights to be protected' discussed were:

• To be treated as equal, and thus not discriminated on the basis of race, gender, sexual preference, age, disability etc.
• To freedom of speech and freedom to peaceful demonstration
• To protect your own physical and personal boundaries (ie not to be beaten, tortured, raped, etc and including the right for women to determine their own pregnancies needs)
• To education especially early education and equal opportunity education
• To health care (including, mental, D&A, disability, dental care)
• To decide on ending one's own life
• To vote
• To an accessible legal system
• To be treated innocent until proven guilty
• To seek asylum
• To practise one's own philosophies of life/ religion
• To fair working conditions and equitable tax structures
• To a free and independent press
• To respect even if one represents a minority opinion or group
• To promote and uphold the separation of functions of church and state.
  
  Our groups, says Rona, also discussed the need for:
• The International Declaration of Human Rights to be more accessible to all Australians
• These Human Rights principles to be enshrined in a document suitable for Australians in user-friendly language
• The development and delivery of a "Civics Program' to educate all levels of Australian society about the rights and responsibilities
• A publicly held and supported "Coming of Age" Ceremony, where all 18 year olds would receive their "Right to Vote" and other information. eg An Electoral/ Local council activity.
• The training of Civil Celebrants to be enhanced to include information and education about human rights issues and how such issues could be related to their work in all rites of passage
• More to be done to address gender inequities, especially then balancing the human rights of carers with those for whom they care.

"I believe as civil celebrants we have an opportunity of playing a wider role in the Australian community", declares Rona. "Principle of respect, cooperation and harmony between peoples are the basic tenets of most world religions, and as most modern biologists would say, are also important to our survival as a species and the survival of those other species that share our planet."

"Our opportunities to offer information just prior to marriage are limited. However, looking at ways we can impart knowledge to engaged couples and their families in the broader context are exciting possibilities for be pursued".

If you are passionate about human and civil rights issues and the role of civil celebrants, please feel free to contact Rona on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

More more information of the Human Rights Consultation and a workshop near you, visit: Human Rights Consultation website - click here

The Future of OPD

A meeting with the Attorney General's Department was held on Wednesday 14 January 2009 in Canberra to further discuss options and directions for future OPD delivery.

The following associations, celebrancy businesses and/or RTOs were represented on the basis on the submissions each group made.

* Celebrants Training College (CTC)
* Marriage Celebrants Australia (Inc) Est WA (MCAWA)
* An Authorised Nationwide Celebrant Service (ANCS)
* Coalition of Celebrant Associations (CoCA)
* Australian Federation of Civil Celebrants (AFCC)
* International College of Celebrancy (ICC)
* QualTrain Australia (QTA)
* Australian Celebrations Training (ACT)
* Humanist Celebrant Network (HCN)
* Australian Celebrants & Celebrations Network (ACCN)
* Heart & Soul Celebrations (HSC)

Marriage Celebrant Section (MCS) had sought comment from individual celebrants, celebrant associations and interested parties to comment on two proposals previously discussed. Submissions were required to address certain Guidelines for their OPD Proposals

Various aspects of the two proposals were considered

Option 1 [DOC 35KB]: AGD Development of Option 1 - Limited Panel from Tender Process. AGD maintains preparation of compulsory activity content material. 

Option 2 [DOC 33KB]: Marriage celebrants complete their non-compulsory OPD by accessing activity/activities of their own choice through Registered Training Organisation (RTO);  AGD maintains control of compulsory activity. 

Subscribers wishing to speak with Tony may email him or call, and Tony will return calls at his expense. Thus Celebrant Help Desk is a nationally available service, providing great value for money. Newsletters: September, December, March, May, June.

$36 per annum. For more details: click here