Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Hansard source

I won't labour the point, but I would respectfully suggest that, while I do understand about not jeopardising favourable trade agreements, for a parliament to review and ask that it be re-endorsed prior to its expiry is not an onerous thing; in fact, it's prudent. I don't know one single commercial operator that grants a lifetime contract—actually, I do. I'll tell you who did a lifetime contract. There's a chap who got the rights to Stolichnaya vodka from the communist party in Russia and got a lifetime exclusive distribution agreement to sell Stolichnaya vodka in the United States. He made billions of dollars out of that. The Russians didn't make quite so much money. Those are the perils of a lifetime contract. He ended up being the second-largest shareholder, I think, in PepsiCo, because he sold it to Pepsi. Lifetime contracts are not a normal feature of commercial transactions. To expect an agreement that is reached in this place to continue in perpetuity is, I think, quite nonsensical and not in our long-term interest. Yet what you've suggested to me is that seeking the ratification of the parliament to continue the agreement, even if it's as structured, is somehow resetting the clock. I don't buy that, Minister.