Celebrants subject to new regulations

A day after acting as arsonist-in-chief for Tony Abbott's bonfire of government regulations, Josh Frydenberg was back in the lower house with legislation to impose new rules.

The man who declared "a cultural shift in Australia's approach to regulation" with the repeal of more than 10,000 acts and regulations, introduced two related measures on Thursday.

The prime minister's parliamentary secretary introduced the Marriage (Celebrant Registration Charge) Bill 2014 and the Marriage Amendment (Celebrant Administration and Fees) Bill 2014.

The bills impose a $600 registration application fee for aspiring marriage celebrants and a $240 annual registration charge, which Mr Frydenberg said was a cost recovery measure.

Without it, he said there were "limited resources to effectively utilise the legislative provisions available to properly regulate the industry".

And it's a growth industry.

Mr Frydenberg said that in 1973 less than two per cent of couples were married in a civil ceremony.

The figure was 71.9 per cent in 2012.

The number of celebrants has jumped from 3334 in September 2003 to more than 10,400 now.

Debate on the bills was adjourned.