Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House:

(1)

expresses concern about the shortage of organs available in Australia for life saving operations;

(2)

notes that where a donor is available, Australia has one of the best records in transplantation outcomes;

(3)

supports the efforts of the Minister for Health and Ageing and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister to increase the rate of organ donation in Australia;

(4)

congratulates the organisers of Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week across the country for drawing attention to the need for more Australians to become registered organ donors and to discuss their choice with their families;

(5)

notes that the report of the National Clinical Taskforce on Organ and Tissue Donation sets out a number of directions for improvement in Australian policies and practices; and

(6)

encourages Members actively to encourage organ donation in their electorates.

On this first historic opportunity on a Friday for members to bring forward and discuss matters of significance within their electorates, and within the Australian community—

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation and Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I draw your attention to page 524 of House of Representatives Practice, on which it says:

If the Speaker determines that there is an urgent need to protect the dignity of the House, he or she can order a grossly disorderly Member to leave the Chamber immediately. When the Member has left, the Speaker must immediately name the Member and put the question for suspension without a motion being necessary.

Mr Speaker, I draw your attention to House of Representatives Practice.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the member for Fremantle.

Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to begin by noting that this is Organ Donor Awareness Week and by acknowledging the many Australians who have made the generous and selfless act of registering as an organ donor. They are making a personal contribution to the collective good health of their fellow Australians.

Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation and Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I draw your attention to page 524 of the House of Representatives Practice where it says—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Boothby will resume his seat. I name the honourable member for Moncrieff.

I move:

That the member for Moncrieff be suspended from the service of the House.

The question is that the member be suspended from the service of the House. All those of that opinion say aye, the contrary no. I think the ayes have it. Division required. In accordance with standing order 133, the division is deferred until the commencement of the next sitting.

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: House of Representatives Practice, page 524, says that where the question has not been resolved:

If the question is resolved in the negative, the Member may return to the Chamber.

I ask you, Mr Speaker, to use your discretion to put the motion.

In accordance with standing order 133, I have deferred the division.

Opposition members interjecting—

Order! The chair will be resumed in 15 minutes.

Order! Before proceeding, I simply call upon the House to reflect on its ability to conduct itself in a dignified manner. I appreciate that, as a consequence of the standing orders agreed to last week, there are people in the House who feel aggrieved and that, as a demonstration of their frustration, the events of this morning have transpired. I ask the House to consider that motions have been put forward by both sides of the House to be discussed and I call upon the House to allow those proceedings to continue. In that case, I call the member for Fremantle.

The reality is that in 2007 across Australia fewer than 700 organs were donated from only 198 donors. As it currently stands, in Western Australia there were 19 donors last year, and I have been advised that so far there has only been one donor in 2008 and that occurred at the Fremantle Hospital.

It has been recognised for some time that Australia’s rate of organ donation, at 10 donors per million of population, is at the lower end of the international scale, compared with countries like Spain with a rate of 35 donors per million and the United States with 21.5 donors per million. What is of particular concern is the fact that the number of donors per year has shown negligible growth between 1989 and the present. According to the figures of the Australia and New Zealand Organ Donation Registry, there were 231 donors in 1989, which is the highest figure recorded, and only 198 last year. The lowest annual figure was 183, recorded in 1994. Incidentally, that was the year when, as the solicitor in charge of the Bunbury Community Legal Centre, I wrote an article for my local newspaper regarding the issue of organ donation, not from a legal perspective but from a human one.

I had become aware that each year thousands of Australians were dying or suffering blindness or the debilitating experience of being hooked up to a dialysis machine for several hours every few days for want of healthy organs, a situation that appeared entirely preventable. I later became aware that the shortage of organs is a universal problem. In my work with the United Nations in Kosovo, while chairing a working group on trafficking in persons, I learned of the horrifying international trade in organs and the phenomenon of ‘transplant tourism’. A December 2007 World Health Organisation report has noted that potential organ recipients from countries including Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the USA travel abroad to undergo organ donation from live kidney and liver donors from such countries as Pakistan, India, Bolivia, Brazil, Iraq, Moldova, Peru and Turkey.

On another aspect of the international organ trade, the WHO report noted that in China around 12,000 kidney and liver transplants were performed in 2005, with most of the transplanted organs alleged to have been procured from executed prisoners. Many operations involved non-Chinese citizens as organ recipients. The WHO and other bodies have raised concern about the dangerous consequences of the international organ trade, both for live organ donors, most of whom are coerced into it through extreme poverty or force, and for recipients who may undergo surgery in substandard conditions and may not survive the transplant process.

It is an appalling situation when Australians in desperate need of an organ feel they must travel overseas to obtain one. Of course, the majority of Australians in need of an organ—and there are approximately 1,900 people currently on the waiting list—do not travel overseas but continue to suffer, to wait and to hope here in Australia. It is a matter of general and bipartisan agreement that we need to lift the number of organ donors and the number of successful transplants that ensue.

This week, being Organ Donor Awareness Week, it is a perfect opportunity to raise the profile of organ donation and to encourage Australians across the board to consider the generous act of registration and to discuss the issue with their families. I note that DonateWest, the Western Australian agency for organ and tissue donation, has this week commenced its Don’t Waste your Wish campaign, the first of its kind in WA. One of the lines in the campaign makes the point: there are some wishes you can’t keep to yourself. That nicely expresses both sides of the equation here: the selflessness of giving and the magical gift it makes possible.

In my electorate of Fremantle, well-known bluegrass musician and local celebrity Jim Fisher has been the recipient of a liver transplant. He speaks with a humble awareness of how lucky he has been to receive a liver and how he had to wait only nine months to receive his transplant, while he has seen other people die waiting for transplants. Jim is well aware that it was not only the generosity of his donor but also Australia’s free public health system that contributed to his still being alive today.

Jim’s recovery after the operation was not immediate. He said he felt like he had been ‘bashed by Mike Tyson for a week’ after receiving his new liver, but some time later he was back playing music in pubs, parks and festivals around Fremantle and around Australia with his band, the Sensitive New Age Cowpersons. As the band’s name and songs such as Daddy wore a mullet suggest, Jim is a man who genuinely enjoys life and he is grateful to have had a second chance, thanks to an organ donation.

I also want to draw special attention to the new Paired Kidney Exchange Program operating at Fremantle Hospital in the renal unit, headed by Professor Paulo Ferrari. The unique aspect of this program is that it matches family members who are incompatible donors with other families who are similarly unable to donate to their loved one. The two families, both in the same situation, literally swap kidneys, with the approval of the state health minister, under amendments made to the Human Tissue and Transplant Act of WA. The first paired kidney exchange occurred in October last year. This is the kind of innovative policy that could be extended nationally and would result in a significant lift in the rate of live kidney donations. The Western Australian government is encouraging other states to participate in this program.

Indigenous Australians are disproportionately represented as far as kidney disease is concerned. There has only been one Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander donor in the last five years and there are cultural reasons, both ancient and modern, for this. The renal department of the Royal Perth Hospital is planning a forum later this year which will address this and other matters.

The final point I wish to make is that all states and territories and both sides of this House agree that action must be taken on the urgent issue of organ donation. This week, two new members, the member for Moreton and the member for Longman, movingly highlighted this issue in their first speeches. I intend to include a prominent article in my first electorate newsletter about organ donor registration, and I hope other members will consider doing the same. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of this House, as we discuss every option to increase the rate of organ donation in Australia. It is most encouraging and perhaps not well understood that some 94 per cent of Australians have indicated their support for organ and tissue donation. We now need to convert that very high level of approval into action.

Margaret May (McPherson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I thank the member for Fremantle for bringing this motion before the House today. It is an important motion and one we should all take note of. I would also like to offer my congratulations to the member for Fremantle on her election to this place and I wish her well in the years ahead.

I have often spoken in this place about the need for Australians to register for organ donation as I believe bipartisan support is required to raise donation rates in Australia. We need to raise awareness in our own communities. We need to understand what organ donation means to so many Australians who are waiting on that list. The gift of life is the ultimate gift that one human being can give to another. Australians have been receiving life-giving organ and tissue transplants since 1965, and to date more than 30,000 people have received transplants which have saved or enhanced their lives. I think that is an incredible record and something we should move to increase.

Though Australia does boast one of the highest transplantation success rates in the world, with kidney transplant survival rates at about 90 per cent in the first year and over 75 per cent over five years, even with that very high success rate we have an extremely low rate of donation in this country. In fact Australia has one of the lowest rates among Western countries of organ and tissue donation. I would say to all of those in the House today that that is very disappointing and alarming considering our success rate on donor transplants.

Last year just 198 people became organ donors. Incredibly, from those 198 people 626 transplants were performed from those donations. I think it says a lot for what one person can do if they put their name on that list. With 1,875 people waiting for an organ transplant in Australia, a person has a 10 times greater chance of requiring an organ or tissue transplant than of becoming a donor. We certainly have to turn that around.

Spain has the highest rate of organ donation in the developed world. Their level of national support has been achieved through government legislation, professional education and ongoing community awareness programs. The Howard government did announce the Australians Donate National Organ Donation Collaborative measures on 19 February 2006 and I am encouraged to hear that the new Rudd government has committed to continuing this funding through to 2009. This is a great step forward. The National Organ Donation Collaborative educates hospital staff across the country on ways that donation rates can be improved. It is a great example of social policy and one which makes me proud to stand in this place. I would like to quote from the collaborative charter about the opportunity it sees:

While donation rates in Australia’s major hospitals vary greatly, those with high rates did not achieve them by accident. The practices leading to higher rates can be identified and replicated. Through the collaborative, hospitals will form multidisciplinary teams—each to include a donor coordinator—to improve the identification of potential donors. Working closely together, the teams will also lift the conversion rate of potential to actual donors.

I think it will be a great outcome if we can do that through our hospital systems.

Hundreds of Australians every year suffer and die needlessly due to a shortage of organ and tissue donors. Every donor has the potential to improve the lives of at least 10 people. Organ donation saves lives and tissue donation improves the quality of life. But, as we know, every year we lose hundreds of people because those organs are not available. I would like to quote Senator Gary Humphries, who made a speech last week here in the theatre about Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week. One of the comments he made in his speech was:

Every year we burn and bury thousands of perfectly healthy, useful organs, while hundreds of people with serious illnesses die for want of them. For some the decision to take their organs to the grave is made for religious, social or personal reasons, but for the vast majority of Australians the decision is not one they will bother to make nor will they probably even consider. And because of this people are dying.

I think that says it all. We have a huge job ahead of us to educate the Australian public on the importance of becoming an organ donor. I believe that to sign on for organ donation is one of the greatest gifts a person can give but it is one form of generosity that cannot be spontaneous. Research has shown that more than 90 per cent of Australians support organ and tissue donation but that many people are unaware that simply marking your drivers licence as an organ donor is no longer sufficient to carry out your wishes. The law now requires people to register their consent with the Organ Donor Register. You can register online at www.medicareaustralia.gov.au, obtain a registration form from Medicare offices or call Medicare on 1800777203. I make available in my office the registration forms that people can fill in and I certainly talk to constituents about what they can do or how they can become organ donors. I would encourage everyone in this House today to think about having those forms in their offices and trying to encourage constituents to fill them in. It really is a very important step that we can all take.

I cannot stress strongly enough that, if you register, it is a subject you must talk over with your family and your loved ones. The most common reason families decline to donate their deceased relative’s organs and tissue is that they do not know whether or not their relative wished to donate their organs. It is not pleasant to talk about death, but, in the case of organ donation, forward planning is imperative. Families are placed in a situation where they have to make a heart-wrenching decision when their loved one has just been pronounced dead. Even if someone has registered their wishes on the Organ Donor Register, a family member may still override that wish. If your family knows and understands your wishes, following through with your wishes will not be such a hard decision for them to make when you pass away.

I would like to stress today that organ donors are treated with the utmost respect. The donor’s body is treated with dignity. Of course, that is of huge concern to people putting their names forward as donors. I have been assured by the people I have spoken to, the organisation itself, that bodies are treated with the utmost respect and dignity.

Organ donation is important, and I very much hope that people do not delay but register as soon as possible. As I said before, each individual has the potential to help up to 10 people through organ transplants, such as heart, lungs, liver, pancreas and kidneys, or through tissue transplants, such as bone and eye tissue. We need to educate people about organ and tissue donation, to encourage families to discuss their wishes, to highlight the success of organ transplantation in Australia and to promote the registration of consent through the Australian Organ Donor Register. Each and every one of us can make a difference to someone else’s life if we are unfortunate enough to ourselves to pass away, but we should make the decision, fill in the form and register as organ donors.

In my own electorate there is a wonderful young man named Chris Wills. He was around 37 when he received a heart-lung transplant. Chris could not work and was on oxygen all the time. He could not walk 50 metres and could not put his workboots on because he did not have the energy to do it. Through his transplant—and it only kept him in hospital for 10 days—Chris is now an active member of the community, works full time, and coaches and plays cricket; in fact, he played for Australia in England as part of our Transplant Games. So I urge all of my colleagues here today: please, talk to your constituents and encourage them to register. I hope everyone in this House also registers for organ donation.

Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will start by congratulating the member for Fremantle on moving her first motion in the House. The topic of organ donation is an important one every day that we come to this place; but particularly this week, which is Organ Donor Awareness Week, it is timely to add our voices to those throughout the community in raising the issue of organ donation and encouraging our constituents and fellow members of parliament to take the step of registering to be organ donors.

At the outset I also want to pay tribute to all of those Australians who have been organ donors in the past, particularly to their families and loved ones. It is the families and loved ones who are faced with the final decision as to whether or not a deceased person will be an organ donor—whether they will give that gift of a second chance at life to a person they have never met before—and many thousands of Australian families have made that brave and generous decision to donate organs from their deceased loved ones.

As we have seen from this debate and from other statements in the House this week, there is great support for organ donation on both sides of the House. This is a truly bipartisan question. There is also great support within the community. This is not unusual; Australians are generous, caring and compassionate people. But one thing we are always surprised about when we attend functions in support of organ donation and when we enter into these debates in the House is that, although 94 per cent of Australians support the idea of organ donation—that is the figure that has come out of various studies—we have not been taking the step of registering and consenting to become organ donors. That, of course, is the problem that we as policymakers in this country have to grapple with. As we just heard, in the last year only about 200 deceased people became organ donors, but they gave a second chance to some 626 other Australians. That still leaves almost 2,000 people on waiting lists, as of the end of last year—2,000 people who are wondering, every time the phone rings, if it is going to be their second chance at life. So we still have a lot more to do. Australia has a spirit of generosity but it still has a very low rate of organ donation when compared to other countries.

I am ashamed to say that I only became aware of this issue a couple of years ago, even though I have been in the House for a long time. A family came to see me to share with me their story of being on a waiting list—of what it was like not to be able to participate fully in life and to be waiting to see whether or not they would get the extra time in their life. I am pleased to say that that family’s story did have a happy ending. Their daughter has since been a successful transplant recipient. Since then, I have taken a great interest in this matter and I am pleased to see that, in that time, there has been a lot of activity by governments, both state and federal, to address the low rate of organ donation in this country. It began under the previous government, in which Tony Abbott was the Minister for Health and Ageing, with the setting up of the National Clinical Taskforce on Organ and Tissue Donation. This week, during Organ Donor Awareness Week, the task force reported its findings.

I note that in the past I have called for the government to consider the idea of an opt-out system in Australia but that the task force has not followed that path. I can accept that because I do realise that the evidence on opt-out regimes is very mixed. Spain attributes some of its success in organ donation rates to an opt-out system, but the US has the second-highest donation rate and it does not use that system.

In the time I have left, I want to urge everyone here to do what they can to promote organ donation in their communities and urge all Australians to register their consent on the Organ Donor Register. (Time expired)

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate having the opportunity to speak in support of the motion on organ donation. As a father, a husband, a son and a brother, and as a member of Australian society, I very clearly feel the responsibility to be an organ donor. It is on my driver’s licence and my wife and I are on the register. These things need to occur in the lives of all of us. I struggle to understand why there are not more people on the register and the donation rate is not higher. But, hopefully, through Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week and motions such as this one, and through the commitment of MPs and other members of society, we will see an improvement.

On a daily basis there is a need for organ donation to restore hope to people afflicted with injuries or diseases or needing a transplant for genetic reasons. While it is easy for each of us to think of the image of somebody laid up in a hospital bed or at home, almost unable to move, it is also important to realise that none of us exist in isolation. These people also have families around them. Sometimes it is the carers or providers who are themselves laid up. They have a place in the lives of children, older parents and friends. All that is at risk if we do not get organ donation right. The point is that there are downstream consequences. So, in considering organ donation, all members of Australia’s society should think not just about that high-profile picture of a person who is laid up in hospital but also about the effect that saving that person or giving them a higher quality of life will have on the families, the kids, and others affected by the circumstances.

Obviously these matters are grave, and we have responsibilities, but, on a slightly more positive note, I would like to draw the attention of the House to the fact that we will be fortunate enough to have the 11th Australian Transplant Games being held in Perth from 5 October to 10 October. Some of the events will be held in the electorate of the member for Fremantle and others will be held in the electorate of the member for Swan. The games take place every two years. They include a range of games and sports, including running, rowing—’God’s own sport’—chess and scrabble. This indicates that organ donations and transplants can result in people returning to a full life of opportunity and capacity. But sometimes people are only being kept alive through organ donations and transplants. While they may not end up being able to run marathons and things like that, it is still a great thing for them to be able to carry on and remain part of the lives of their family and the people around them. Hope can be restored and there is life after great adversity if we get organ donation right.

As others have said very clearly, leadership is required—not just advocacy but demonstrated commitment. It needs to be on our driver’s licence. It needs to be on the organ donation register. We need to discuss these things with our families. I have spoken to my wife about it and she is clear on it. I have spoken to my mother about it and she is clear on it. I have spoken to my parents-in-law and they are clear on it. Everybody knows the wish of my wife and I, which is that, should things come to the worst, we want to be there for people who need organ donation.

I endorse this motion. I urge all who are present today and those who note this motion to speak to their families and get on the register. This is our responsibility. We cannot and should not avoid it.

Annette Ellis (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker Burke, I congratulate you on your elevation to the position of Deputy Speaker. I thank the member for Fremantle for putting this morning’s motion on the Notice Paper. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to speak to it. I want to speak about some personal cases where we have seen an impact from organ donation. But first of all I refer to a very timely letter to the editor that appeared in the Canberra Times this morning. It was from David Mitchell, of Waramanga, whom I do not think I have met. He said:

My son, Jon, died suddenly at age 17.

…            …            …

As a family group we had previously discussed what we would do if any of us died suddenly and we all agreed that we would like our organs donated to save other people’s lives.

So in the midst of shock and despair we were able to inform the hospital that Jon’s perfectly good organs were available for transplant.

What followed was the arrival of the transplant co-ordinators who quietly discussed what was going to happen with us and we agreed to go ahead.

…            …            …

At all times the transplant co-ordinator kept contact with us and showed care and concern for our feelings.

We found out later that Jon’s organs had saved five other people.

…            …            …

We miss him every day and suffer the loss and feel the despair of losing him deeply still.

We are consoled that part of him lives on in the people he saved.

…            …            …

I urge everyone to sign up to donate their perfectly good organs when they leave this world.

I thank Mr Mitchell for having the energy and foresight to send such an insightful letter to the Canberra Times.

I also want to speak about a very dear friend of mine, Justice Terry Connolly, who sadly died very suddenly last year of a heart attack. He was only 49 years of age and in the prime of his life. He was actually fit and healthy and he was making, as he had always made, a significant contribution to our community. He was looking forward to growing old with his wife, Helen, and seeing his two daughters grow. When Terry died, Helen and his two daughters, Lara and Maddy, consented to having Terry’s corneas donated. This followed a previous family discussion about organ donation and the decision to register as organ donors. Helen says she and Terry made the decision to donate their organs because they felt it was something they should do as responsible partners and parents. Helen says that, through the experience of Terry donating his corneas, some tangible good has come from the time of deep sadness for the family. The fact that through Terry’s death someone was alleviated from their pain and suffering brought them some semblance of comfort and some sense of meaning from his death.

At the other end of this debate we have people who are waiting. I want to talk about 10-month-old Cordelia Vance, who lives in Canberra. Cordelia’s rare liver condition has prevented her from reaching any milestones that other babies of her age would automatically reach. There have been stories in the press in the last few days about Cordelia’s family and circumstances. She is a dear little possum with an older sister named Octavia. The family desperately need to see a liver come their way.

I also want to talk about Ms Cahill-Lambert, a woman of older years with a rare lung disease who is hooked to an oxygen machine for 24 hours a day. I have met her many times. She is a local person in Canberra and she desperately wants to have a transplant arranged so that her life can continue.

When we look at the two particular angles of this human story—the first where people are waiting and the second where we actually see the successful outcome of that wait—we see every reason why none of us have a real excuse, other than for the accepted reasons, not to register for organ donation.

For my part, like other members in this place I send out a community newsletter, which goes to 72,000 households in my electorate. The next edition is going out in two weeks, and I have decided that in that newsletter there will be a tear-out page with the donor registration form and with, on the other side, my reasons for wanting people to fill it out. I am very hopeful that they will. The statistics given by the previous speakers and the stories I have repeated here from the human side this morning really make it very difficult to understand why those with other than religious objections cannot fill those forms out. (Time expired)

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of this motion in relation to organ donor awareness. Ultimately, this is a motion about families who lose people and families who gain people. For me it is all too personal. In 1992, my then 25-year-old cousin, Christopher, lost his life in a skiing accident. For some days he was on life support, and during that time my uncle David Hunt, whom I love very dearly and who is perhaps one of my harshest critics and challengers, had to make a very powerful decision—that is, to release the organs of his young son. It has been a very difficult period for David since then, but the one sustaining element that he has had is that those organs which were taken from his son, my cousin, gave life to many people. Not all organs were taken. A decision was made that the corneas were too personal, but the principal organs were taken. I cannot tell the House to how many people they gave life but I know it was to a significant number. That story is the story that occurred 198 times around Australia last year. Christopher’s story is the story from the side of the donors. It has never been easy for my uncle or for our family, but the fact that there was some good, a profound good, which came from this passing and this process means, to me, that it is one of the most significant things which anybody in our society can do—that is, to make the commitment at an early stage to be an organ donor.

I also want to focus on the side of the recipients. One is Zoe Wood, a two-year-old girl from Mount Martha. I am the father of another two-year-old girl who lives in Mount Martha and so I was in close contact with Zoe’s family. Zoe needed an organ transplant in order to save her life and she was fortunate enough to receive it. She has two loving parents and three older siblings. They have back this beautiful little girl, they have back the hope of a unified family and they have their lives before them with all the glory that comes from having a two-year-old with a real future in front of her. That little girl, Zoe Wood, will be the face of the Royal Children’s Hospital appeal this year, because of the magnificent work of the hospital and the generosity of another family who, sadly, lost their own child.

This brings me to the question of the medical staff who give their time and wonderful expertise. My wife is a neurosurgical nurse. Paula has done much work in transplant surgery, and so we have, in a strange way, been surrounded by this issue—as family of a donor, as a family which has been close to recipients and as a family with a member who has been engaged in the transfer process. I think it is very important to pay tribute to the extraordinary medical staff, who have a sense of hope, belief and purpose in their work and who make life possible. They face tragic loss across the operating table and, at the same time, they have an extraordinary opportunity to bring life and a sense of hope to those who are facing loss.

In conclusion, we do need to examine the way in which the magnificent Organ Donor Register works. We have to examine whether there should, perhaps, be an opt-out system. If not that, I would urge the House and all those responsible to consider whether or not we should give more weight to the drivers licence signing process. I think that that should be sufficient. A family might have the right to override it, but if people can simply use their drivers licences—if that is enough to be registered as an organ donor—that will offer the potential to save hundreds of lives. I thank the House for its indulgence on this occasion and I remember my cousin Christopher.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.