According to Higgins J in Amalgamated Society of Engineers V

According to Higgins J in Amalgamated Society of Engineers v the Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd (1920) 28 CLR 129:

A) the fundamental rule of interpretation is that a statute should be read according to the conventions of society at that time.
B) the intention of parliament in making legislation is irrelevant to interpretation of that legislation.
C) the question is not what the language of a statute means but rather what we think parliament intended it to mean.
D) the language of a statute must be interpreted according to its ordinary and natural sense even where the result may be inconvenient, impolitic or improbable.