Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak in support of the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority Bill 2008. I note with interest the number of members who have spoken very passionately on this bill, which clearly demonstrates the effect this matter has on individuals, perhaps because most of us, as other speakers have quite rightly said, know of someone in the community who has been the beneficiary of an organ transplant. I will come to that a little bit later.

This bill establishes the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority in order to provide national leadership to the organ and tissue sector and to drive, implement and monitor national reform initiatives and programs aimed at increasing Australians’ access to life-saving and life-transforming transplants. The Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority is part of a national reform package worth $151.1 million, including new funding of $136.4 million over four years.

I know other speakers have referred to the funding but I will too because it is a key feature of the bill. There will be $67 million to fund dedicated organ donation specialist doctors and other staff in public and private hospitals; $46 million to establish the authority, to be set up by 1 January 2009; $17 million in new funding for hospitals to meet additional staffing, bed and infrastructure costs associated with organ donation; and $13.4 million to continue national public awareness and education in respect of this issue. There will also be $1.9 million for counselling for potential donor families and for other significant measures, including enhanced professional education programs, consistent clinical protocols, ‘clinical trigger’ checklists and data collection for organ transplants in hospitals.

I list these things because they clearly indicate to me that this bill and the process under which the authority will be established have been very carefully thought through. All the matters that one might believe ought to be addressed if we are going to have a national scheme have been included in the preparation of the bill and the establishment of the authority.

I support this bill because ultimately it will save lives, it will improve the quality of life for both recipients and their families and friends and it will give hope to those people who right now are in need of an organ transplant of one kind or another.

As the Prime Minister quite rightly pointed out in introducing the bill, there are 1,800 Australians currently on waiting lists for an organ donation that could save or transform their lives. Last year, there were just 198 deceased organ donors in Australia. This resulted in 657 transplants, meeting just one-third of demand. I raise those statistics again simply to draw a comparison with what might have been possible.

In the year 2005-2006, there was a total of 133,700 deaths in Australia. Even if you accept that many of them were not deaths where organ donation might have been possible, there were some 7,840 deaths which could be referred to as having occurred from external causes—that is, from things like road accidents, work accidents, suicide and so on—whereby the opportunity to have assisted someone else might have been possible. It would not take a lot more encouragement for people in the community to become organ donors and to perhaps meet the current needs of those 1,800 people. For those people, an organ transplant is certainly something that they dearly want. Not only are their lives put on hold whilst they wait but, in some cases, people pass away while they are waiting.

Other speakers have made the point that we all know, perhaps, of someone who has been the recipient of an organ donation. Given that there are 30,000 people in Australia who have benefited from organ or tissue transplantation that is not surprising. These people have been given a new chance in life and so have their families. I want to speak briefly about someone I know who was the recipient of an organ transplant, someone I have known since childhood who is of a very similar age to me and with whom I went through my school years, who in recent years was in need of a kidney transplant. He waited several years and was able to survive because of ongoing treatment at the hospitals. He was about to give up. Fortunately for him—and he is one of the fortunate ones—he was able to get the kidney transplant that he had been waiting so long for. His life has changed substantially, and I see it in his health. Whilst he is certainly not 100 per cent, he is a very different person as a result of the transplant. It has also given hope to his wife and his children that their husband and father will be with them for many years to come. That is the effect an organ transplant has.

I want to outline some other matters. I notice that the member for Petrie made similar comments and outlined some of these matters but, because of their importance, I too want to outline them. This bill will mean that potential donors are identified in hospitals across the country. Every family of a potential donor will be asked about organ donation. A dedicated specialist will work with the potential donor and their family to provide support through what is often a very, very difficult process. Hospital staff will be able to focus on donor care knowing that the hospital has a separate budget to cover organ and tissue donation. Families will receive the support they need at the time of organ donation and afterwards, and there will be an equitable and safe process for managing transplant waiting lists and allocating organs once they become available. The new authority that will be established will coordinate clinicians and other hospital staff dedicated to organ and tissue donation in hospitals across the country. Professional staff trained to do that will oversee a new national network of state and territory organ and tissue donation agencies, introduce and manage a national data and reporting system, lead ongoing community awareness programs about organ and tissue donation and transplantation, and work with clinical and professional organisations in developing clinical practice protocols and standards.

I highlight those points to give confidence to those people who are thinking of becoming organ donors that there will be a very thorough process established in order to ensure that their decision to become an organ donor is one that they can live with in confidence. The authority will enable all families of potential donors to be asked about donation, and it will work with clinicians, hospitals and community organisations to educate people about donation, to support families through this decision and to make sure that suitable patients will be considered as potential donors.

In my closing remarks, I want to very briefly speak about perhaps the most common myths which quite often prevent people from becoming organ donors—and there are many myths. The most common one and the one that I hear all too often is that if someone nominates to become an organ donor and they are in a serious accident, either the paramedics at the time—the ambulance people—or, once the person has been transferred to the hospital and is still alive but in a critical state, the medical team may not do everything that they possibly can to save that person. That is a myth and it should be dispelled. Under this legislation, and under the reality of what happens in hospitals and amongst the medical fraternity, it would be two entirely separate teams of doctors. Firstly, the doctors at the hospital would have no knowledge about organ donation at that time and, secondly, as professionals their first obligation is to save the person and that is exactly what they will try to do. I have every confidence in that. So anybody who is put off that by the myth that their life will not be saved in a serious emergency is certainly mistaken and should not make the decision based on that.

In the few seconds I have left, I simply want to make this point: apart from the fact that the process of organ donation gives life to and saves the lives of so many people, there are also huge economic benefits to the community at large. Those economic costs should be noted. To use just one example, the cost of transplantation of a liver is about $75,000 yet the cost of dialysis treatment for a person with kidney disease is $84,000 per annum. Purely from an economic point of view, there are a lot of good reasons why this authority and this bill are deserving of support. I support the bill, I appreciate the fact that it has bipartisan support and I certainly commend it to the House.

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