Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

We are talking about laws that are prospective, that will occur in the future. The only thing you can ever apply to a prospective law is a reasonable circumstance that will be hypothetical. There is no other way you can tease out how an act will be applied. So to somehow suggest that I should give you an example that is not hypothetical is quite disturbing. We have to explore the way in which this act will work in the future, and if I call out a scenario and you say, 'Senator Patrick, that would never happen,' I accept that. But I'm giving you a reasonable example in trying to understand how, in the future, this act would apply in those sorts of circumstances. I seek an answer to the question please, Minister.