Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

Anybody interested in the very vital issue of organ donation listening to the Labor Party's spokesperson might be a little bit bewildered, because the conversation is all about the merger of authorities or organisations and the review of another organisation and who was or was not told about it, when the real premise of the member's question might have been: how can we better work together to increase the rates of organ donation in Australia?

I know that the opposition cares about this and I am not going to suggest that they do not. I do not want to focus on when two authorities may combine or how they may combine. Those matters belong to the legislative progress through the parliament. I know it is sometimes frustrating when you are in opposition, because you do not know what legislation is coming up and you wait and see what is introduced on either a Wednesday or a Thursday morning. I have been there, so I understand it. I would simply say to the opposition spokesperson: please do not get stressed. We are focused on these authorities and the good job that they do and the best ways of performing their important roles.

The other thing that the member for Throsby talked about was an inquiry into the Organ and Tissue Authority and that is certainly not my understanding. There are no suggestions that any aspersions are being cast on that authority. The inquiry and the review is into organ donation in Australia generally and how we might better improve our rates. The conversations that we would all have, as interested members in this policy area, are around how we make sure that the connections we need to have between hospitals, donors and organisations work, particularly when living organs need to be transported across the country.

This is a complicated logistical exercise as well as being a complicated emotional exercise for the families and the people involved. I would love to see donation rates increase and I intend, through the work that I will be doing in this space with the Assistant Minister for Health, Senator Nash, to make sure that we put in place measures that increase our rates of organ donation. Any actions that you might see the Liberal and National parties in government taking are all designed to further that end. That is what this is about. That is what this organisation does, and no-one can rest on their laurels with the rates at the levels that they are in Australia today.

I spoke previously about the eHealth record, and may I say that that is also a valuable piece in this puzzle in making the connections between where donors are, where organs are and where hospitals are involved and then moving through that complex logistical pathway. The eHealth record is a perfect piece of reform that we are moving ahead with that will allow that.

If we could just imagine that somebody has thought about this, has had the discussion with their family and has made it very clear, they can make that statement and it can be part of their eHealth record—their own eHealth record because it is about the individual. Then it is very clear, which will help with those difficult conversations and those difficult decisions that families make at a time when they never should have to make those decisions, at one of the most distressing and challenging times of their lives. It is a very difficult question to answer for health professionals in the hospital system. I know the member for Throsby made a very bipartisan remark about immunisation and I am sure he would share the bipartisan approach with organ donation. He did mention members having been consulted about an inquiry and I have just come back to finish on that point. This is not about pointing the finger at individuals or members of a process; this is about reviewing the rates of organ donation in Australia, with the strong purpose of lifting them.

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