Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to congratulate the member for Werriwa for bringing this very important motion to the House. I stand here not only as a person who has benefited from a blood transfusion but also as somebody who is now a regular blood donor. It is very appropriate that this motion is before the House at this particular time, with World Blood Donor Day being on 14 June. Unfortunately, it is held on a Saturday and I am not too sure how many people will be able to give blood on that day. I will be donating blood on Tuesday, 10 June, the closest date to 14 June that I could arrange. I would encourage members of this House to do the same as I am doing, particularly around World Blood Donor Day.

Importantly, all donations are made by volunteers in Australia. The safety of those donations is assured because of the vigilant way the Red Cross test the blood. In fact, not everybody can give blood. At this point, I would like to congratulate the Red Cross for the fine work that they do. I emphasise that volunteers give blood in Australia. People receive no payment for giving their blood and that is one factor that assures the safety of the blood that people receive.

As I mentioned, not everybody can donate blood. We heard from the member for Dawson, who is unable to donate blood because he was in the UK between 1980 and 1996. If you have had a tattoo, if you have had cancer or if you have an infection, it will impact on the quality of your blood. If you take certain medications, you can perhaps give blood but those medications can actually impact on the quality of your blood and your platelets can be affected. Something as simple as Nurofen can have an impact on the quality of your blood. The taking of certain other medications means that you cannot give blood. If you have had multiple sexual partners or unprotected sex, both these things prohibit donating blood. But all these things prohibiting the donation of blood ensure the safety of the blood that people in Australia receive.

The member for Dawson, I think, also mentioned that a blood donor is basically having a health check every time they go along to give blood. People with certain medical conditions are unable to give blood—people with heart conditions and pregnant women. My daughter is a regular blood donor. She is currently pregnant and she said to me that she is missing being able to go along and give blood. I have a very close friend who, for many years, donated blood. He was just short of his 100th donation and his haemoglobin count fell. He was around age 75 when he stopped giving blood. I was speaking to him tonight and he said to me, ‘I’d still be giving it, if it wasn’t for that.’

All the staff in my office went en masse to give blood. When we went along, unfortunately, a number of the staff were unable to give blood. One person had recently had a tattoo and another had an infection. Out of the staff, only two of us could give blood.

It has already been stated by other members what the blood is used for, so I will not go over that. But only one in 30 people actually donate blood. The body replaces the blood within 24 to 48 hours and replenishes red blood cells over a 10- to 12-week period. There are 21,000 donations required each week, so I would like to call on all members in this House to give their blood and to do what I am going to do—go out there, as close as they can to World Blood Donor Day, and give that gift of life.

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