Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

On indulgence, I would like to associate all Labor members of parliament with the comments that have been made by the minister in respect to our national vaccination program and the importance of pushing back against some of the less-informed views that sometimes take hold within the community. It is a program which has always attracted bipartisan support.

I would like to ask the minister some questions about the Organ and Tissue Authority. Minister, you would recall that before the 2014 budget the government received a report from the National Commission of Audit which proposed, amongst a range of things, the merger or the closing down of a range of agencies within the Health portfolio. In response to that report, we assume, the government decided in the 2014 budget to merge the Organ and Tissue Authority with the National Blood Authority, a decision which left many within the community bewildered, because any cursory analysis of the two organisations shows that they have very little in common in either an operational sense or their mission. Notwithstanding that, the government decided to push ahead and last year announced that 1 July this year would be the commencement date of the new merged authority.

It is well known to all in this place that, to enable the merging of the authorities to proceed, you will need legislation. I have been closely monitoring the forward notice of legislation, and I note that there is no legislation in this sitting of parliament which would enable this merger to proceed, which means that the 1 July starting date of the new merged authority cannot occur. My question to the minister is this: do the minister and the government intend to continue with the merger of the National Blood Authority and the Organ and Tissue Authority? If so, when can the parliament expect to receive legislation to give effect to this?

I would also like to ask the minister a question regarding the recently announced inquiry into the Organ and Tissue Authority. All members of the place would be mindful of the extraordinary on-air resignation of the chair of the advisory board to that authority, Mr David Koch, who complained that he was not advised of the intention of the minister to conduct such an inquiry. He was surprised because it came in the immediate aftermath of an existing inquiry that had just reported, the National Audit Office inquiry into the Organ and Tissue Authority—a report which has been received by the government but, to my knowledge, has not yet been acted upon.

We are also concerned about the lack of consultation with any of the stakeholders. Can the minister advise who, within the clinical community, was advised ahead of making the decision to conduct an inquiry?

Indeed, were any of the jurisdictional bodies consulted ahead of the minister's decision to conduct the inquiry? Was anybody? We know the chair of the board was not consulted. Were any of the advisory board members consulted ahead of the decision to conduct this inquiry? We know that the Organ and Tissue Authority fulfils a vital role. We know that since its establishment we have seen a steady increase in donation rates throughout the country and that is a good thing. We have seen them come down in the last 12 months, and that is a matter of deep concern. We need the Organ and Tissue Authority to be able to focus on its main game without the distractions of the inquiry and the proposed merger. So I ask the minister if she can answer these questions: is the merger going ahead, why was the inquiry conducted and who was consulted?

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