Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department
Australian Government: Attorney-General's DepartmentAchieving a Just and Secure Society

Ongoing professional development

This is the official site of the Australian Marriage Celebrants Program. Anything you read elsewhere that is inconsistent with this site is not accurate.

Finding out about your OPD obligations

This website is the only source of official information for all of your OPD obligations as a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant.  Please continue to visit this website regularly.

OPD exemptions - amendments to the Marriage Regulations 1963 commencing 1 July 2010

See the What's New in the Marriage Celebrants Program page.

Using the Certificate IV in Celebrancy to access an exemption from OPD - evidence required before 14 August 2010

As explained on the What’s New in the Marriage Celebrants Program page, marriage celebrants who wish to obtain the exemption from ongoing professional development on the basis they have completed the Certificate IV in Celebrancy (or equivalent university qualification) must:

  • be enrolled in the Certificate IV in Celebrancy before 1 July 2010, and
  • provide evidence of that enrolment to the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants before 14 August 2010.

It is not necessary to have completed the Certificate IV in Celebrancy (or equivalent university qualification) before 1 July 2010. The Regulations require a person to have enrolled in that qualification before 1 July 2010. This will ensure that those marriage celebrants (or aspiring marriage celebrants) who have enrolled in a Certificate IV in Celebrancy are not disadvantaged.

Evidence

The evidence required to be provided to the Registrar before 14 August 2010 is:

When you have completed the Certificate IV in Celebrancy, you can provide a certified copy of that qualification to the Marriage Celebrants Section. If you do not provide the evidence noted above before 14 August 2010, you will not be able to access the exemption from OPD when you complete the Certificate IV in Celebrancy.

If you have further questions about the exemption, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions and Answers – OPD.

For further information about the reasons for the amendments to the Marriage Regulations 1963, see the What’s New in the Marriage Celebrants Program page.

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 (1 January to 31 December).
  • OPD consists of compulsory and elective activities.
  • There will be one compulsory activity each year of one hour’s duration.
  • In addition to completing the compulsory activity each year, each marriage celebrant will need to complete elective activities that total a minimum of four hours.
  • OPD activities must be selected from the activities listed on this website.

Panel of OPD providers

OPD can only be completed through one of the following registered training organisations on the panel of OPD providers:

Panel members must be contacted directly to organise completion of your OPD obligations.

OPD Activities for 2010

The OPD activities available for 2010 are:

Important changes

  • The OPD registration year to complete your OPD now runs from 1 January to 31 December each year.
  • The five year ‘no repeat’ activities rule has been abolished.  This means that you can repeat an activity you have previously completed within the last five years.
  • As mentioned on the Annual Return page, once you have submitted your annual return for the annual 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.
  • You must undertake the activities through one of the OPD panel members listed on this website.
  • You are no longer able to seek approval for an activity available to you locally to count towards your OPD obligations.
  • The activities must come from the list available on this website.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers – OPD

If you have further questions about OPD, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions below. The FAQs include questions and answers about exemptions from OPD: