OPD Certificate IV Exemption for this year 2010

Important information about your OPD obligations as a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant

Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrants fulfil an important role in the community, one that carries many responsibilities including legal ones. It is therefore essential for marriage celebrants to maintain current knowledge and skills. One way marriage celebrants do this is by fulfilling their OPD obligation each registration year.

Essential legislative obligations

The following obligations are provided in subsection 39G(b) of the Marriage Act 1961 and regulation 37M of the Marriage Regulations 1963:
- Marriage celebrants must undertake five hours of OPD each registration year (a registration year is now 1 January to 31 December)
- OPD consists of compulsory (one hour) and elective activities (four hours)
- OPD activities must be selected from the activities that are listed on the Attorney-General's Department's website.
- OPD can only be completed through one of the registered training organisations on the panel of OPD providers.

These are:

AssentTECS
Australian Celebrations Training, and
Gordon Institute of TAFE.

Panel members should be contacted directly to organise completion of your OPD obligations. Contact details for the panel of OPD providers are available on the Department's website.

A reminder also, that once you have submitted your annual return for the previous registration year of 1 September 2008 - 30 August 2009, you are no longer required to send in an Annual Return. The panel of OPD providers will provide the Registrar with details of marriage celebrants satisfactorily completing OPD.

This information is also available on the Ongoing Professional Development page of the Department's website. The Ongoing Professional Development page includes frequently asked questions and answers about OPD. Please remember to visit the OPD page regularly for updated information about OPD.

Certificate IV in Celebrancy

The Certificate IV in Celebrancy is a new qualification released in early 2009 as part of the Community Services Training Package. The new qualification replaces the previous single unit of training as well as the former Certificate IV in Marriage Celebrancy.

The Certificate IV in Celebrancy is the new minimum qualification required for aspiring marriage celebrants. Existing registered marriage celebrants do not need to complete the Certificate IV in Celebrancy, however, some marriage celebrants may wish to upgrade to that qualification. This is a matter for each marriage celebrant to decide.

Using the Certificate IV in Celebrancy qualification to gain an exemption from your OPD obligation
In December 2009, amendments were made to the Marriage Regulations 1963 to support the new direction in the delivery of OPD to Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrants and to align OPD with the new qualification required for registration as a marriage celebrant, the Certificate IV in Celebrancy.

The 2009 amendments to the Regulations included an exemption from OPD for those marriage celebrants who complete the Certificate IV in Celebrancy or an equivalent university qualification. The exemption recognises and acknowledges the effort required by marriage celebrants (or aspiring marriage celebrants) to undertake and complete training in the units of the full Certificate IV in Celebrancy and the fact that a marriage celebrant has undertaken recent training. It was intended that completion of the Certificate IV in Celebrancy would be relevant to a minority of marriage celebrants and that most would meet their OPD obligations through undertaking OPD with one of the panel of providers.

Some training providers have been offering options to obtain the Certificate IV in Celebrancy through various methods (that may or may not involve a celebrant actually undertaking recent training) in order to obtain the exemption from OPD. This may mean many marriage celebrants miss out on recent up to date training or miss out on quality OPD training from the panel of OPD providers. This does not reflect the original policy intention of the exemption. However, under the current Regulations (as amended in December 2009), a marriage celebrant who completes the Certificate IV in Celebrancy will qualify for the exemption. You should be aware that the Attorney-General's Department is considering whether the exemption should continue to be available in this way and is considering possible options to ensure that marriage celebrants undertake quality OPD training through one of the panel of providers.

Please remember to visit the Department's website regularly for updated information about OPD. The Attorney-General's Department's website is the official source of information regarding your OPD obligations.

If you are unsure about your OPD obligations you should contact the Marriage Celebrants Section via e-mail as soon as possible.

Marriage Celebrants Section
Attorney-General's Department
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.ag.gov.au/celebrants

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OPD Certificate IV Exemption for this year 2010