Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to follow the leadership of the Gremmo family in my community in talking about organ donation after the unfortunate death of their son, Nathan, at just 13 years of age, on 30 April. The Gremmo family have built many of the houses in my community and are one of the most community minded small businesses and some of the most community minded businesspeople that we have ever encountered in the Hills district.

Following the death of their son, both Kylie and Michael Gremmo have asked that our community and, indeed, the whole Australian community consider discussing the difficult topic of organ donation. In such difficult and tragic circumstances, they led by extraordinary example, deciding to donate Nathan's organs—enabling the saving of six other lives.

As the parent of a small son myself, this is probably one of the most difficult questions that any parent or family could consider. They have asked families to consider having that discussion, because we do know that families that have discussed people's decisions in relation to organ donation have a much higher likelihood of donating organs, and in any month in Australia there are 1,700 Australians on organ transplant waiting lists. In 2014, 1,117 people were given a second chance because of the generosity of donors. I really want to thank the great leadership of the Gremmo family in the most tragic circumstances and tell them we will do as they ask.

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