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

I congratulate the government on introducing this legislation. I know it has the support of both sides of parliament. I do not think there would be a member in this parliament who is not committed to seeing that we increase the number of organ and tissue donations that take place within Australia. We all understand the need for this to happen. The Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority Bill 2008 establishes the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority to provide national leadership to the organ and tissue sector and to drive, implement and monitor national reform initiatives and programs aimed at increasing Australia’s access to life-saving and transforming transplants.

One of the key ideas discussed for the future of Australia’s health and hospital system at the 2020 Summit was the need for a national donation scheme. I am pretty sure that most members of this parliament have already registered as donors, as the member for Capricornia suggested. But for too long organ donation rates in Australia have lagged behind other nations. For too long, Australians have been left desperately waiting, month after month. These are Australians, mums and dads, waiting for a transplant. Currently, there are 1,800 Australians on the waiting list 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 the demand.

The International Registry of Organ Donation and Transplant reports that in Australia in 2006 there were just 9.8 donors for every one million people. That is a really low level. Spain had 33.8 donors for every one million people, more than three times the rate in Australia. Spain is the leader in this field, but the US is also up there, with 26.9 donors for every one million people, more than 2½ times the rate in Australia.

In the decades ahead, we will have an older population and a population with a much higher incidence of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. I see the member for Parkes is in the chamber. He is also on the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing, and we are currently doing an inquiry into obesity. We know the connection between obesity and type 2 diabetes and kidney disease. It is imperative that we get this register right, because the need will be there, unfortunately. People who have chronic diseases often go on to need transplants.

More than three-quarters of the people waiting for organ transplants are in need of kidneys. The cost for each person waiting on the kidney transplant list is $83,000 per annum, if they are receiving hospital based kidney dialysis. The cost of a kidney transplant is $65,000 per person for the first year and $11,000 for each year after that. So, on a pure dollars and cents basis, it is imperative that we look at increasing the number of people that can actually have those kidney transplants. How do we do that? We increase the number of people that have their name on the Australian Organ Donor Register.

I would like to share with the House a story. A friend of my son’s had a little boy, and this little boy developed a tumour on one of his kidneys. He had the kidney removed but, during the operation, his good kidney was damaged. So here we had a young boy who basically had no kidneys. He had to wait two years before he was able to access a donated kidney, simply because they had to be sure that the cancer had gone. After two years of waiting and extreme anxiety for his mum and dad, his father was found to be a compatible donor and he gave young Bryce one of his kidneys. Young Bryce is now a healthy young guy and is living a normal life. He would be nearly ready to go to school now, I think. If he had not had that transplant, if his father had not been compatible, young Bryce would have died. That is just one very human story of how important it is that transplants take place. I am sure most members in this parliament would be able to tell stories of constituents or family members that have needed a transplant. I will finish my contribution to this debate by talking about a constituent in my electorate who had a liver transplant.

Australians waiting for transplants require extensive, expensive and time-consuming treatment. In the case of young Bryce, he needed to have dialysis and full-time ongoing medical care. When we look at the nations that have enjoyed much success with organ donation rates, we learn one clear lesson, and that is that national leadership is needed to drive the change necessary to improve the rate of organ donation. That is what this legislation does. It sets up national leadership. It sets up a structure. It pulls the states on board. It is government working together to get the best outcome for all Australians. Who knows? Next time it could be someone that is close to you that needs a donation.

As I said, nations that lead the world in organ donation and transplant rates have a national coordination system. The bill that we are discussing today reflects international best practice. Organisations that have played such an important part in promoting awareness of organ donation and that have helped in the development of the government’s national plan are the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand, the Cognate Committee on Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation, Transplant Australia, Gift of Life, Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation and ShareLife.

I would like to share with the parliament the story of a constituent of mine, Keith Galdino, who had a liver transplant. I spoke to him a couple of years ago. I spoke about Keith in the House when there was a private member’s bill on organ donation, in September 2006. I often see Keith down at the Windale bowling club. He is a pretty mean bowler and he represented Australia at the World Transplant Games. When I asked Keith what organ donation meant to him, he told me it had given him new life. He received his liver in 1994, at a time when he was so close to dying. He had been told he had one week to live. He received a phone call at 7.40 on a Thursday night, the ambulance arrived shortly after, he was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney and he was on the operating table at 3 pm the next day. He had a 17½-hour operation and then spent six weeks at Prince Alfred. Then he went to Queen Mary’s Hospital for another six weeks and returned home after three months.

Keith’s story is one of success. He went on to represent Australia at the transplant games, and he is very active in his community and very active in the transplant society. I asked him what message he would like to give to parliament and the Australian people. His words were: ‘Don’t bury or burn your organs. Donate them.’ That is a really important message for all Australians. I think this legislation we are debating today is going to make it much more likely that people do not burn or bury their organs. It is about making people aware and making it easier for more Australians to be given the opportunity to live a long and fruitful life.

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