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Cost Recovery for the Marriage Celebrants Programme – Single-stage Regulation Impact Statement – Attorney-General’s Department

On 20 March 2014, the Attorney-General introduced to Parliament two Bills to establish cost recovery for the Commonwealth Marriage Celebrants Programme and make other changes to the administration of the programme and marriage requirements. The Bills:

  • introduce an application fee for registration as a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant
  • introduce an annual registration charge for Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrants
  • increase flexibility in undertaking celebrant performance reviews
  • expand the range of acceptable evidence of date and place of birth specified in the Marriage Act 1961.

The introduction of cost recovery is intended to provide adequate resourcing for the administration of the programme in the face of substantial growth in the number of registered marriage celebrants in recent years. Consultation identified that many marriage celebrants do not make a living solely as a celebrant and an earlier proposal to introduce an annual charge at a higher rate would likely cause many celebrants to exit the industry. The final proposal to introduce a lower annual charge, in combination with an application fee, reduces the impact on existing celebrants. The proposal has been assessed as likely to have a limited impact on the broader economy and on competition, although the impact on the regulated industry could be significant. The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) has therefore given this a C rating (on a scale of A to D) in relation to the level of analysis required. A Single-stage Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared and certified by the Attorney-General’s Department, and has been assessed as adequate by the OBPR. The RIS estimates that the changes will result in net savings in regulatory costs of $3.3 million annually (which excludes the cost recovery fees and charges). The OBPR has agreed to the estimates of costs and cost offsets. The OBPR notes that as no decision has been previously announced by the current Government, an options-stage RIS was not required and a Single-stage RIS has been prepared. However, the former Government had previously announced the proposal in its earlier form on 11 May 2011, as part of the 2011-12 Budget, for which a RIS was prepared and published. The latest RIS was prepared under the July 2013 Australian Government best practice regulation requirements in conjunction with the interim RIS process guidance note.