Wake up babe, new privacy laws and Instagram changes have dropped

As a lifelong Queenslander, I was unfamiliar with the idea of seasons until last year.

We don't really have any in Queensland, just versions of Summer. Like lunches and breaks in school, we'd have big summer, little summer, pre-summer, after-summer.

I'd make fun of my Melbourne colleagues for banging on about "wedding season" and I'd plant my tomatoes whenever I damn well wanted to.

All of that changed a year ago today as I became a Tasmanian.

Seasons are everything down here. You do certain things in certain seasons, and you don't do them at other times of the year. You eat different foods in different seasons (you would hate me if you knew how close I lived to the best cherries in the world), and you do particular activities in particular seasons.

There's something really calming and peaceful about not having to do everything all the time, and I've been trying to integrate this apparently very normal idea for most of the world into my celebrancy practice.

This mostly means being intelligent about slowing down and speeding up, clocking on and off, being available and unavailable.

Once I do figure it all out I'll be sure to give you a signed copy of my new book about how to be perfect, but until then, may you - and I - be encouraged to be the best we can be in the seasons we're in right now.

– Josh

🎓 Certificate IV in Celebrancy update

Sarah's been hard at work - literally day and night for months - to relaunch an updated Certificate IV in Celebrancy so that our students can graduate and enter the industry market-ready and knowledgeable in the marriage laws and regulations. If you know Sarah, send the girl a hug and some chocolate; she hasn’t seen daylight since she decided to rework the Cert IV.

This also means that enrolments are now open, so if you know someone who wants to enrol, send them over to: celebrant.institute/celebrant-training

👮🏼 Babe wake up, new privacy laws!

If there's anything that gets me out of bed with a hop in my step it's some fancy new legislation and last month, on 10 December 2024, the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 – the first stage of Australia's long-awaited privacy law reforms – received Royal Assent.

Now known as the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) (Amendment Act), it introduces several significant amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), many of which came into effect immediately upon assent.

The law firm MinterEllison has prepared a detailed overview and also a summary of the new legislation. I couldn’t find anyone else as detailed as they are, but you’re welcome to search the internet for other sources.

• Mandatory Data Breach Notifications: If you hold personal information (like everything on a NOIM) and a breach occurs that is likely to cause serious harm, you’ll need to notify both affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) within a set timeframe.
• Expanded Scope for Small Businesses Handling Sensitive Information: Even if your annual turnover is below the usual $3 million threshold, if you collect or hold sensitive personal information, the revised rules will apply. This means reviewing whether the data you hold (for example, client details) qualifies as sensitive under the new definitions.
• Stricter Consent and Transparency Requirements: The reforms clarify that personal information must be collected only for a specific purpose, with clear and informed consent. Your privacy policy on your website, data collection and storage practices may need updating to ensure clients know exactly how their information is used.
• Enhanced Enforcement and Increased Penalties: The changes give the OAIC stronger powers and introduce tougher penalties for non‑compliance. This means that if your practices don’t meet the updated standards, you could face significant fines or even jail time.
• Improved Guidelines on Data Handling and Storage: There’s a greater emphasis on ensuring that personal data is securely managed – only used for its intended purpose and stored safely. You might remember Sarah and me banging on about this quite a lot lately?

What should you do?

1. Delete, and do not keep, data that you do not need to collect or keep. This might require a legal refresher.
2. Ensure that any data you need to collect is stored in an encrypted location.
3. Avoid sending or storing it via email; use something like Enclosed instead – it’s free for members.
4. Finally, understand the data and privacy risks in your celebrancy practice, form a privacy policy based on that audit, and have a procedure for disclosing that there has been a failure in your privacy policy if or when that happens.

📱 Babe, wake up again! New Instagram updates!

For those of you who joined my friend, Edwin, on our Instagram mythbusters webinar last year (honestly, still a bargain and a really helpful webinar, get it here) you would know that Edwin is a gun when it comes to Instagram and how social media can positively affect your business.

His email (subscribe at the bottom of the page) this week wrapped up all the ways Instagram is changing as we speak:

1. Insta is launching a new video editing app, cleverly called "Edits", to compete with CapCut. Edits will be a great way to make content for social.
2. Your profile grid is now 3:4 instead of 1:1 - or if it's easier, tall images. The main thing to keep in mind is to ensure your Reels’ cover photos and images fit into a 3:4 ratio.
3. TikTok and CapCut were banned in the US, then unbanned by Trump. Just another reminder to not put all your eggs in one social media basket, to get a really good website, and to build your own email list.
4. Instagram Insights Update - Edwin is the first to tell anyone who listens that the first 2 seconds of your Reel are the most important. He calls it the Hook. The bosses at Instagram in 2025 are aiming to give us more stats to better understand how our content is performing, which is honestly a great change. They'll soon be adding a "view rate past first 3 seconds" metric which will be super handy to see if your hook works.
5. Finally, Meta is removing a bunch of moderation features to improve "freedom of speech". Essentially, there will be less automatic moderation happening on Meta.

Regarding Edwin and the Social Sandwich, he's my go-to for social media knowledge and you could invest your money in worse ways than buying one of his tutorials, attending his training, or booking a mentoring session with him. (Tell him we sent you!)

🧑🏻‍⚕️ Trialling another AI assistant

Every week I'm trying to find the new best tool to make my work life easier, and the latest one is Granola. It listens to my video calls, takes notes, and also gives me a note taking box, then it reformats the whole thing (my notes and its notes) into a big fancy note.

I like it so far!

👩‍❤️‍👩 Can you marry your step sibling?

We fielded the question on which relatives can you marry, and blogged it for you to read and share.

📢 Have you been getting those Bark.com emails?

Here are my thoughts on the company and similar companies.

📖 Updated Guidelines

A few of you have reached out to enquire about the new and updated Guidelines to the Marriage Act. We're asking the big questions and as always going in to bat for you in Canberra. That's what your membership fees get you, a friend in the fridge.

However, they’re still working on them, and when we know, you’ll know.

❤️ We love our members!

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