Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian transplant cricket team is heading off to England in July to compete in a three-week cricket tour. The tour comprises two test matches and three one-day cricket internationals for the David Hookes memorial shield. The squad includes liver, heart, bone marrow, lung and no fewer than 11 kidney transplant recipients from all over Australia. Who else could boast a team full of legitimate steroid users? At least half of the team have used the high-performance drug known as EPO—legally, of course—for treatment of chronic kidney disease.

The team’s aim is to raise public awareness of the benefits of and need for organ and tissue donation. With that in mind, arrangements are currently being made for our team to attend certain public functions, including a formal introduction to members of the UK parliament, who will then escort the team members on a tour of the houses of parliament.

Following the death of David Hookes, there was a spike in organ donor registrations when it emerged that David and his family had agreed to donate his organs. Nevertheless, Australia has one of the lowest organ donation rates per capita of any country in the Western world. Mr Deputy Speaker, I repeat: the tour is to raise awareness of organ donation. With Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week running from 17 to 25 February, I urge Australians to sign onto the register and to let their families know of their wishes.

I will be watching the David Hookes memorial shield closely, as we on the Gold Coast are immensely proud to be having one of our own playing in the series. Chris Wills, from the Gold Coast’s beautiful hinterland, received his heart and lungs last year. Chris, an all-rounder, is right up there in his grade for batting and bowling. After Australia losing the Ashes in both men’s and women’s to the pesky English, he is keen to get things back on track. I have no doubt that we will retain the David Hookes memorial shield, and Chris is emphatic that he will not be returning to Australia without it. I wish the team all the very best on their upcoming tour.

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