Not from Australia was just wondering is a partner visa the same as a marriage visa? And are they calling it a partner visa just to be politically correct?
I don’t know if this will work for you, but I had to provide a certified embassy copy of my marriage certificate to my Thai wife, and as you found out the embassy would not certify a marriage certificate from the United States, but they did allow me to create an affidavit and the embassy did certify that and then we sent that affidavit to the ministry of foreign affairs and they put their stamp on it and those items were accepted in lieu of a certified embassy marriage certificate