Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

Section 14(4)(b), which Senator McHugh is trying to amend, looks strict but, as the Minister said, one can make a defence. On the point the Minister made, would it not have been better to include the wording that "the person took all reasonable steps to ensure..." in section 14(4)(b)? A considerable onus is being placed on the individual to prove he or she could not have known. It would have made it a bit easier for the individual if the Minister had included not only the wording that in the circumstances "it was not possible to know", etc., but that he or she "took all reasonable steps". If the section provided that an individual could go into court and state he or she did A, B and C, it would make it easier for the accused to provide a defence, which would have to be a reasonable one.