Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) | Hansard source

You've been wondering what I've been holding! It's interesting. It should actually be required reading in our schools. It's Water into Gold. It's the seventh edition, from 1946. The first edition—the subscriber's edition—was published in June 1937. Coincidentally, it's actually water damaged. Anyway, it's a really good book and it details how our irrigation systems were constructed. It talks about trade. It refers to the efforts that so many people went to to make sure that we had productivity in this nation. It is brilliant reading. I particularly like the reference to the amount of water that rolled down the Murray and past Mildura. George Chaffey, one of the early water pioneers—this figure that was given was 1,088 followed by nine zeros. That was how many gallons of it rolled past every year.

I tell you what, that amount of water these days would not be available for growing the fruits, making sure that the permanent plantings are watered and making sure that we actually provide exports for other nations to enjoy the cleanest, greenest and best produce in all of the world. That is in your state, Deputy Speaker; that is in my state; that is in the state of the member just behind me—Queensland—and, indeed, in Victoria as well. Even though the member for Corangamite sits over there, opposite, she's nodding. She understands that our states, through the Murray-Darling system, provide the world's best food. They do! And not just for global supply but for domestic supply as well.

When we talk compliance and when we talk productivity, I say this again. I heard the member for Sturt talking about climate action and that we're all obsessed—or some are—about this. The greatest moral challenge of our times is not to bedevil our farmers and to take away their water and to ruin our landscapes with wind turbines and solar factories; it's actually to grow food, because too many people in this world go to bed hungry. They do. And we can grow our food. We could grow the best food available if we only had the political will to do so.

There should be much more in this bill. I'd love another 15 minutes, although I'm probably not going to get an extension of time. I'd love to have more time to talk about what we should be doing to lift the burden on our farmers, to lift the burden on our irrigators and to lift the burden on our small business operators who need help. This bill does not provide that. That said, there are some good elements to this bill, but it doesn't go anywhere near the way it needs to to help lift compliance for our hardworking Australians.

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