Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of increased awareness of organ donation, specifically to support an improvement in the organ donation numbers in Australia, and I congratulate the member for Canberra for bringing this to the House’s attention. I am very fortunate that I have not been in the personal situation where I have been impacted by the critical nature of organ donation. But my husband and I are two of the 5,622,362 people in Australia who are part of the Australian donor register. The reason we have both made the decision to be part of that register is we understand the significant impact that an organ donor can have on the lives of others. To repeat some of the statistics already given, one organ donor can save the lives of, or dramatically improve the lives of, up to 10 people. We know that as at 30 November 2009 there were about 1,770 people waiting on a list for organ transplants, transplants for things like a kidney, a heart, a liver, a lung, a pancreas or an intestine.

We know that we can have a significant impact, through these incredible transplants, on the lives of those people who are currently suffering from chronic illness because Australia has been at the forefront of technological advancement regarding organ and tissue donation. In fact, in the early 1940s Australia was the nation that began corneal transplants, in Sydney and in Melbourne. In 1965 Australia had the first successful living kidney transplant, and in the mid-1980s right through until the late 1980s we had some breakthroughs with the first successful heart transplant, Australia’s first successful kidney transplant from a deceased donor along with some great innovations in the early 2000s with the first single segment liver transplant on a baby. We can very rightly be proud of the medical advancement in this particular area.

But what concerns me today is the fact that we do not have the requisite number of people on the organ donor list for the number of people who are waiting for transplants. When you consider these statistics in Australia compared to those in the rest of the world, it is quite telling. The number of people who donate in Australia per million is in stark contrast to the rest of the world. That figure is tripled in Spain, per million people, more than doubled in the USA and doubled in France. Clearly, there is more work to be done here. The reason there is more work to be done is that it is a very difficult issue. Organ donation is a very emotional issue and the most critical aspect in all of this is to understand the wishes of loved ones when it comes to the point where a decision can be made.

The coalition has got an incredibly proud record trying to bridge the gap between the number of people who require transplants and the number of people who are able to offer their organs on the register. In 2006 we spent $28 billion trying to boost organ donation and trying to close that gap. As I have said, there is still much more work to be done. While 96 per cent of Australians are supportive of organ donations, only 54 per cent of people who suffer brain death become donors because in 46 per cent of cases the family refuses consent. This is why it is so critically important that people tell their family members of their wish to become a donor. According to the International Registry of Organ Donation and Transplantation, Australia is currently ranked 17th in the world, but we do need to consider how we can become even more innovative in trying to get people to register their wishes early on. Certainly, we have done that work when it comes to people applying for their licences. I think we can perhaps also come to consider whether there might be other critical points in people’s lives where they might also consider making their wishes known. I would like to again congratulate the member for Canberra for bringing this to the attention of the House. It is an issue that has support among the coalition, the Labor Party and the Greens. I commend this motion to the House.

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