Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

We have not defined it. It is the usual: what constitutes a reasonable excuse is what the ordinary person would consider under the current determinations of what a reasonable excuse would be. It is not circuitous; the current legislation provides for determinations of what a reasonable excuse is. There will obviously be circumstances that will apply at the time, depending on the nature of the issue. Some of those criteria, like failing to participate in an activity without a reasonable excuse, will hang off each individual type of occurrence.