On 11 May 2011, as part of the 2011-12 Budget, the Australian Government announced reforms to the Marriage Celebrants Program. The Marriage Celebrants program provides couples who do not wish to have a religious marriage ceremony with an alternative to a registry wedding. The primary objective of the reforms was to improve compliance and professionalism by marriage celebrants. The reforms included the imposition of a cost recovery fee on marriage celebrants to contribute to the administration of the program. Given the estimated size of the fee and the number of part-time marriage celebrants, the establishment of the cost recovery fee was considered to have more than a minor regulatory impact on the marriage celebrants’ industry and so required a Regulation Impact Statement. The Attorney-General’s Department prepared a Regulation Impact Statement which was assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation The Attorney-General’s Department website has more information on the reforms to the Marriage Celebrants Program.
