Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to invite all members of the House to an event I'm proudly co-hosting in the Senate courtyard this evening, along with my colleague MPs from the Murray-Darling Basin. I suspect your loyal staff already have it in your diary because they know we will be offering some of the best produce the world has to offer, and it is home grown, in this country, by some of the best farmers in the world—farmers who also demonstrate world's best practice when it comes to caring for their farm and the Australian environment. The Murray-Darling Basin accounts for $19 billion of agricultural output, providing one-third of this nation's food supply. The government's water amendment legislation, to be debated by the Senate in coming days, puts the future of our food and fibre production on a knife's edge.

The decisions we make in this House matter and make big differences to people's lives. They have the potential to drive up supermarket prices even further. To those opposite: imagine going back to your electorate this weekend and letting your constituents know the federal government has just added even more to their fresh food and grocery bill, and taken some of that fresh produce off the shelves.

The farmers that are here today have spent much of the last 10 years adapting to a dryer climate, improving their irrigation practices and preserving as much of our precious water as possible. All we ask is that you let them keep doing their job.