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| Australian
Parliament member Deanne Kelly visited NCGA’s Washington
office Tuesday. Here she is pictured talking about ethanol production
with NCGA Vice President of Public Policy Jon Doggett, center,
and Director of Public Policy Mark Palmer. |
Australian Parliament Member Visits NCGA (7-08-03)
When Australian
Parliament member Deanne Kelly walked into the National Corn Growers
Association’s (NCGA) Washington, D.C., office Tuesday, she said
she felt she should pay homage because she had heard so much about
the organization and had always wanted to visit.
Kelly, a member
of the Australian House of Representatives since 1996 and a former
cattle producer and sugar cane farmer, paid a courtesy call to NCGA
to discuss a gamut of topics including ethanol, trade and agricultural
issues.
“We
spoke about a free trade agreement between the United States and Australia
and how farmers in her electorate are impacted by restrictions imposed
to protect the Great Barrier Reef,” said Doggett. “We
spoke primarily about ethanol. She was very interested in how corn
growers, the ethanol industry and the petroleum industry came together
to support the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). The petroleum industry
in Australia is very aggressive in their fight against a domestic
ethanol industry. She wanted to know how we changed that.”
Kelly represents
the electorate of Dawson, Queensland, a rural area comprised of sugar
cane farmers. According to Kelly, her constituents are currently producing
120,000 liters (roughly 40 million gallons) of ethanol. Dawson producers
have the ability to produce a much greater amount of ethanol, but
lack government support.
“It
is gratifying to find out NCGA’s efforts on ethanol are being
recognized not only nationally, but internationally,” concluded
Doggett. “Mrs. Kelly was very complimentary of NCGA’s
work on public policy matters.”