I see the young from the schools, I see people representing the farming community, people representing local government, people representing Federal and State government, local businessmen and women, all of you have come to this gathering. And it really does give me an enormous amount of pleasure to be involved in this commissioning ceremony today. I want to acknowledge the tremendous energy that Sharman Stone as your Federal Member has brought to concern for environmental issues. And like any good Federal Member why should she be. But this electorate is really in a sense, and what happens here will be a metaphor for the capacity of our entire nation to handle these problems because the problem of salinity is a huge challenge for this country.
Water conservation is a huge challenge for Australia.
And the management of our resources in relation to those two challenges in particular will determine the ongoing wealth of the ongoing capacity of this part of our country. It is the food basket of Australia. I ve been reminded of that quite forcefully and quite effectively over the last few hours since I arrived in Shepparton last night. I visited the largest pear producer in Australia. But to be involved in the commissioning of Stage 1A of this project, and to thank all of those who ve been associated with it, and to particularly congratulate the local community for coming together and working so effectively to get behind the project is a distinct privilege and honour for me.