Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today is Saffron Day, a day to honour the life of Deeyan Udani, a beautiful seven-year-old boy who tragically passed away in 2016. Deeyan and his sister, Naisha, had learned about organ and tissue donation at school. The siblings told their parents they wanted to be organ donors to help save the lives of others. Deeyan's parents' decision to donate his organs meant that four lives were saved as a result of this incredible gift. Deeyan's family came up with the idea of Saffron Day because orange was Deeyan's favourite colour and saffron symbolises courage, strength and sacrifice—qualities seen in little Deeyan.

I urge all Australians to consider becoming an organ donor. Do it for Deeyan. Approximately 1,400 Australians are currently on the waiting list for a transparent, with a further 1,100 people on dialysis, many of whom would benefit from a kidney transplant. In 2018, over 1,780 lives were transformed due to organ donation. Even though the organ donation rate has doubled in recent years, there is still much more we can do. It is crucial that more people continue to register to improve waiting times. Almost all young adults say that they would be willing to donate their organs, yet less than eight per cent have officially registered their decision.

Donor Mate is a charity raising awareness and promoting positive social attitudes towards organ donation, with a focus on young Australians. I recently visited a Donor Mate Touch and Go kiosk at TerryWhite Chemmart in Nedlands as part of their campaign to encourage young people to register for organ donation. The Touch and Go registration kiosks are being installed in places like medical centres, pharmacies and universities to make it easy for young people to access the information and sign up. All you need is your Medicare card to register. Since February, 20 kiosks have been installed in Perth and Bunbury. To date, the kiosks have been accessed over 1,300 times, with 94 per cent of users going straight to the sign-up register. I've just set one up in my electorate office in Subiaco to encourage anybody who visits my office to sign up.

Meeting people who have had transplants really brings home just how important and how vital organ donation is and the impact it has on so many lives. I have had the great pleasure to get to know a truly inspirational woman in my electorate, Ms Sasha Bosich. Sasha suffered from chronic lung disease since birth. This worsened during her pregnancy and ultimately required her to undergo a double lung transplant. This surgery was undertaken at Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth in August 2017. After a long and challenging experience prior to surgery, followed by the difficult and intensive post-transplant experience, Sasha is sharing her experience and taking a really active role in advocacy and support for other transplant patients. She's a board member of the Heart and Lung Transplant Foundation of WA, a consumer rep on the Australian Lung Transplant Advisory Committee, and she has also established, as her own initiative, Foundation Breathe to fundraise for the lung transplant unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital. She is focusing her foundation's efforts on raising money for equipment such as portable oxygenators, specialised nebulisers and handheld spirometers to help people stay healthy pre-surgery and stay home for as much time as possible. It's been two years since Sasha's surgery and she's still very well. Foundation Breathe will soon be celebrating its second annual Breathe Cocktail Party. Her fundraising efforts this year carry on from last year, when she raised $43,000 for the lung transplant unit.

In finishing, I congratulate Donor Mate, I congratulate and thank Sasha Bosich and Foundation Breathe for the vital work they are doing. Registering is easy, but the other important step is taking time to talk to your loved ones to let them know what your wishes are. In Australia, 90 per cent of families say yes to a donation where their loved one is a registered donor. This compares to the national consent rate of 64 per cent. If you are already registered as a donor, find a plus one to join you on the donor register. It's a simple act that will help boost the number of potential organ donors in Australia and will save lives. Be inspired by Sasha, and do it for Deeyan.

See this speech in context