Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

World Blood Day is being held on 14 June throughout the world. It is going to focus on special activities, to pay tribute to the millions of people who selflessly donate that lifesaving gift of blood. This year’s theme will be Many Happy Returns. Governments and national blood transfusion services are joining hands with the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, voluntary blood donor organisations, community organisations, schools and colleges to mark longer-term campaigns to increase the number of voluntary blood donors who donate blood on a regular basis. Since it was first launched in 2004, World Blood Donor Day has also served as a platform for broader activities in many countries, including the restructuring of national blood transfusion services, the development of legislation on voluntary blood donation and the launch of national guidelines on blood transfusion.

Just recently I gave up politics for an afternoon to donate blood, as I do on a reasonably regular basis. Afterwards, I opened the new blood donor centre at Liverpool, which is in my electorate. The new Liverpool blood donor centre replaces the old centre which first opened its doors in 1998 with a total of four beds, four nursing staff and was open for three days a week. As awareness for the need to donate blood grew in the community, the opening hours eventually increased to five days. Today the support and commitment of Liverpool and south-western Sydney generally is such that they have now moved to larger premises—a state-of-the-art blood donating facility.

Across the country, the need for blood and blood products is continuing to grow each year. At present Australians need 21,000 donations per week to ensure that adequate supplies are there for those who need them. As I understand it, in the next 10 years, this figure is expected to double. Presently, one Australian in three will need blood products at some stage during their lifetime, but only one in 30 donate. Blood and blood products provide the gift of life to an estimated 100,000 Australians every year. Donated blood and blood products are used to treat a wide range of people, including accident victims, patients undergoing surgery, children suffering from leukaemia, recipients of organ and blood and marrow transplants, people with blood disorders such as haemophilia, and premature babies. In fact, 30 per cent of blood donated goes towards helping people with cancer; 15 per cent helps people with heart disease; 15 per cent goes to people with stomach and bowel disease; 12 per cent goes towards saving the lives of victims of road accidents et cetera; six per cent goes to people with liver and kidney disease; five per cent goes to people with haemophilia to ensure that they have an ongoing quality of life; and a further five per cent, Madam Deputy Speaker, you will be happy to know, goes to expectant mums and their babies so that they can have a happier life together.

The Australian Red Cross Blood Service provides an essential service through the collection of blood from generous donors within our community and around the nation. The work of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service ensures that members of our community with life-threatening illnesses who need urgent blood supplies are able to get that product. The centre in my electorate, like many across the nation, helps to improve and save the lives of thousands of Australians each week. The Rudd government supports the action to improve the rate of donation. This government, in particular the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, and the parliamentary secretary, Senator Jan McLucas, are involved in activities to increase the rate of blood and blood-related donations. I congratulate them for being aware of the need to improve the system and to encourage more people to donate.

By donating blood, people can give back to their community and know that what they are doing really does help their fellow Australians in a very, very practical way. Giving blood is a relatively simple but rewarding experience, and I would encourage the wider community to also give blood. I recognise that many people would not be here today if it were not for the generosity of the numbers of volunteer, unpaid blood donors who give blood simply to help others. The generosity of these donors enables the Red Cross Blood Service to provide a world-leading, safe and sufficient blood supply for all Australians. I congratulate Joanna Huggett and her staff at the Liverpool donor centre—(Time expired)

Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support this motion which recognises and celebrates the significant contribution which Australia’s volunteer blood donors make to the Australian community. I commend the member for Werriwa for bringing forward this motion this evening.

A month rarely passes in this House without the words of Winston Churchill being recited for one purpose or another. I would like to share a quote of his which I believe is very much relevant to this motion. Winston Churchill said:

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Giving blood is the epitome of giving, of protecting a life through that gift. The person who gives blood and the patients who receive it are linked by a special bond of concern and need. For the donor, giving blood is a unique way of caring about another human being. For the patient who needs blood to recover, a donation can literally mean the gift of life.

I believe giving blood is an example of taking personal responsibility for the community in which we live. It is an example of the responsibility we all have if we are to enjoy the freedom to live our own lives, a freedom which comes with the responsibility to be concerned about one’s fellow man. Giving blood is a simple and costless means of supporting others in our community.

The average adult’s body contains six to eight litres of blood. Twenty years ago, donated blood was used only to replace losses due to surgeries or accidents. Today, it has many, many uses. As medical technology progresses, more and more uses for blood will be developed. As a result, the need for blood continues to increase.

The ageing of Australia’s population will also have a significant impact on the need for blood donations. In 1967, for example, life expectancy at birth for men and women was approximately 67 years and 74 years respectively. In 2007, these figures were 79 years and 84 years respectively. By 2047, they are projected to be 86 years and 90 years respectively. We are living longer—much longer. Technology and medicine are driving much of that increased longevity. For example, in the United States, a global leader in medical innovation, the past decade has seen an increase of 80 per cent in patents for breakthrough medical technology in an industry worth upwards of $100 billion annually. This, and the successful role of medical intervention, has led to one in three Australians needing blood at some stage in their lifetime.

But here is the crunch: only one in 30 Australians actually give blood. We need 21,000 blood donations per week to ensure an adequate supply. We are falling short of that. In the space of, I think, 10 or 15 years, we will need twice that, over 40,000 donations a week—that is, two million donations a year will be required to meet the need.

On 14 June we celebrate World Blood Donor Day to highlight the lifesaving gift of volunteer, unpaid blood donors who donate blood for altruistic reasons, including the over 500,000 registered blood donors in Australia. The theme this year is Many Happy Returns, to specifically celebrate those donors who give blood on a regular basis—two, three or more times each year. On average, though, registered donors give blood less than two times a year. I would like to personally thank the nearly six per cent of people living in my electorate who are currently blood donors. This is nearly double the average of blood donors nationally, but I know we can do even better. We can set a standard for others to follow. If we could replicate nationally the thoughtful and generous actions of Goldstein residents in Australia, we would be well over the target of achieving the needs of our community. I also thank and recognise the hard-working nurses and volunteers who support the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and the many blood donor centres across Australia. They make an emphatic contribution to the realisation of human dignity for so many men and women. I urge all of those Australians who are able to to donate blood and I hope for ‘many happy returns’.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to support this private member’s motion and to support World Blood Donor Day and the donation of blood nationwide. As I said, I support the private member’s motion and what I feel is a great cause. I sometimes take time out to give blood because I believe that it is something that is very worth while. Every time I leave a blood donation centre I feel a rush of happiness and accomplishment because I know that my blood is going to help save someone’s life, and that is a very important thing. And it is a good feeling. Giving blood has been a part of my life for decades. My family has been giving blood regularly to help those in need as well. My wife has been giving blood for well over 25 years.

We all lead busy lives; there is little time to take time out of our busy schedule and do the things that we enjoy. However, if we all took one hour out of our day every six months to donate blood, we would all be saving another person’s life or making their chances of survival greater. There are thousands of individuals across Australia every year who need blood transfusions to save their lives. Every donation given helps to save up to three lives. There are 100 collection sites across Australia, with more that 80 permanent donor centres in city centre locations and many mobile units that service Australia’s rural areas. In fact, there was a mobile unit that serviced Parliament House about 18 months ago and I recall many of the members here in this House donating blood, including myself. Donating blood has never been easier or more convenient.

The Australian Red Cross are always under pressure to find more blood. And they are correct when they say that we all expect there to be blood available when we need it. However, there is only a very small proportion, one in 30, of people who take themselves to the blood clinic and donate blood. Thirty per cent of blood collected goes to patients battling cancer, 15 per cent helps people with heart disease, another 15 per cent goes to people with stomach and bowel disease, 12 per cent assists trauma and accident victims and five per cent helps babies and pregnant women. Australia needs approximately 20,000 donations each week to meet demand. We do not ever think that it is going to be us or our loved ones who will need blood, whether it is due to a prolonged illness, a sudden accident or during routine surgery. It is, however, always someone’s loved one—someone’s mother, someone’s father, someone’s child—who is in need of a blood transfusion. The government encourages Australians to make a difference in the lives of thousands of Australians by donating blood.

I would like to turn now to the great work that the Australian Red Cross Blood Service do at blood banks and in drawing attention to the need for more Australians to donate blood. The Australian Red Cross was founded in 1914 as part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the world’s largest voluntary organisation. Much of the work of the Red Cross is carried out in Australia and overseas by volunteers. Each year Red Cross volunteers serve more than 200 million vulnerable people worldwide, many in crisis situations. Without the work of those wonderful volunteers in the Australian Red Cross, thousands of Australians would not receive the blood they need. Working long hours in high-stress conditions to save lives, these volunteers and workers are truly inspirational! I would like to say thank you to all of the workers at the Red Cross centres across the nation for the wonderful work that they do in blood donation. Without their work, thousands of Australians would not be here today. Let me just say that all of us in this House—those of us who are able to—should be giving blood on a regular basis and we should be setting an example. It is a very important part of our lives to donate blood. I support this motion.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the intent of the private member’s motion and, indeed, to  support the comments of the last speaker when he called for all parliamentarians to take the plunge and give blood. Many people today would not be alive if it were not for Australia’s generous, voluntary, unpaid blood donors who give blood each week to help those in need. It is one of those things that we used to expect to be there for us, but only a very small proportion—indeed, one in 30 people—actually gives blood; yet, sooner or later, one in three of us will need it. People who give blood are united by their generosity and the desire to give something constructive back to the community. One in three of us will need blood or a blood product. That is a sobering thought.

More than 21,000 donations are needed every week in this country to make sure there is enough blood and product for those one in three Australians who will need it. Blood is needed for surgery and trauma patients, but two-thirds of it is actually needed for people with cancer, blood disorders, heart and kidney disease, and for pregnant women and babies. Currently three per cent of the Australian population are blood donors and they donate, on average, twice a year. In my electorate of Fadden, the fastest-growing electorate in the nation, 5½ per cent of men and women are blood donors, which is above the national average. I salute them and thank them all. The frequency of giving by the blood donors in Fadden is not quite twice per year, so I encourage all those hardworking men and women in Fadden to ensure that they give blood at a minimum of twice a year.

The Gold Coast donor centre of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service aims to collect 114 donations each week. Last week, although it collected slightly under target for plasma, the centre was above target for whole blood. So, well done, Annie and the team, at the Gold Coast collection centre—that was a great result. However, the centre has started to see a dip in appointment levels, coinciding with the start of winter—and, yes, we do get winter on the Gold Coast—and, of course, the recent spate of slightly inclement weather. The donor centre is working hard, though, to get the donation message out to its current donors and potential donors and is shortly moving operations to a new donor centre in Robina, which will increase the number of donor beds from eight to 13. This will also double the amount of plasma that it is able to collect.

Due to medical advances in the treatment of diseases and illnesses, the need for plasma is set to double in the next decade, and therefore Australia desperately needs more donors and for donors to donate more regularly. On average, Australians donate twice per year, but they can donate every 12 weeks. The Australian Red Cross Blood Service are a national blood service, as we know, and if blood collection in one area is low they are able to distribute interstate to help meet the needs of hospitals and patients wherever they are in this great country of ours.

We need 21,000 donations each week. This winter, to cover the number of donors who will be unable to donate due to colds and flus, 40,000 new donors are needed now. All blood types are needed, but O-negative donations are crucial. O negative is a universal blood that can be given to anyone in an emergency, yet only a small percentage of the population are O negative, including me, so I can assure myself that I am in demand to give my blood as often as possible. Mr Deputy Speaker, I can see that you are encouraged by that and I look forward to lying beside you on a bed when we give blood together—

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Finish the sentence!

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Separate beds, of course! Most people think donated blood is used only to help people who suffer traumatic incidences, such as accidents, burns or surgery, but in fact the vast majority of donated blood goes to people with major medical conditions, such as cancer, heart disease, stomach disease, bowel disease, liver disease, kidney disease or haemophilia, or to newborn babies and pregnant women. There are many possible different uses for blood donations. Blood donations may be made into lifesaving or life-improving medication for people with cancer, heart disease or kidney dialysis, or for people with haemophilia who need it regularly or for premature babies. It could be used in an emergency. By separating the blood into its components, it is possible to use a single donation to help save up to three lives. The previous government named 2009 the Year of the Blood Donor in a bid to encourage more Australians to give blood. I encourage them all. I especially encourage our parliamentarians to lead by example.

James Bidgood (Dawson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank honourable members who have contributed to this important debate. I inform members that 14 June is World Blood Donor Day. Being up-front, I personally cannot donate, having been in England between the years of 1980 and 1996. As a precautionary measure to prevent the potential transmission of vCJD, I am ineligible, as much I would like to, having given blood in Mackay when I first arrived in 1993. I do, however, want to help raise awareness for the need for blood donations and encourage the wider community to consider donation today. I want to congratulate members of the community who give blood, because blood is truly the gift of life. With every donation, a donor can save up to three lives or contribute to 15 different forms of lifesaving or life-improving blood products. It is a fact that many brave Australians who suffer terrible illnesses have benefited because of the generosity of Australian blood donors. Blood donors are lifesavers.

Many people in my electorate of Dawson have heeded the call from the Red Cross and regularly give blood. However, more donations are needed. People need to make giving blood a regular part of their lives. An estimated 80 per cent of the population will require blood or blood products at some time in their lives. I am sure all members know someone who has benefited from a blood donation.

I am advised that 30 per cent of all blood donated helps cancer patients, 15 per cent helps people with heart disease, another 15 per cent goes to people with stomach and bowel disease, and 12 per cent of all blood donated goes to trauma and accident victims. People requiring chemotherapy are particularly at risk unless donors come forward urgently. With 30 per cent of all blood donations going to people with cancer, many people with common blood types wrongly assume that their blood is not needed. In fact, the majority of patients in hospital are likely to have a common blood type, making these blood types high in demand.

Blood donation is one of the simplest ways to give something back to the community. Almost anyone in the community aged between 16 and 70 years who weighs more than 45 kilograms and is in reasonable good health is a potential blood donor. Blood donation begins simply by making an appointment with the Red Cross to give blood. They can do this by calling 131495. Donating blood only takes around 10 minutes, but it is advisable to allow at least an hour for the whole process, which includes a personal interview and refreshments. You can donate 470 millilitres of whole blood every 12 weeks. However, you can donate blood plasma every two weeks. It is a fact that more blood is needed.

Open-heart surgery for an adult will require two to six units; a leukaemia patient will require two to six units; and a bone marrow transplant will require one or two units, given every other day for four weeks. I could give many more statistics, but just those statistics confirm the constant need for blood supplies. There are benefits for the donor as well. Each time you donate, your blood pressure and haemoglobin levels are checked. All donated blood is screened for the presence of blood-borne diseases such as HIV1 and 2, hepatitis B and C, HTLV1 and 2—which is human T-cell lymphotropic virus—and syphilis.

Since 2005-06, the Australian Red Cross Blood Service has been fully funded jointly by the governments of Australia, with the Australian government contributing 63 per cent of funding and the remaining eight state and territory governments contributing the remaining 37 per cent on a proportional basis. Young people can and do donate too. Red Cross has a Young Bloods program that encourages students to get a group of friends together and give blood. High schools in my electorate regularly have blood donation drives, with teachers and staff getting involved too. Schools can really make a difference. I commend the schools in my electorate who hold blood donation drives, and I encourage more schools to get involved.

Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Blood is as vital to life as the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink. That is how blood was explained to me by my brother, who happens to be one of Queensland’s—and, indeed, this country’s—finest young neurosurgeons. As well, my sister recently graduated in medicine. So I have a brother and a sister who are right at the heart of the medical world, and they say to me that in this country of ours much more can and should be done to encourage our fellow Australians to donate blood. World Blood Donor Day is 14 June, and I want to take the opportunity in the federal parliament, as the member for Ryan, to first of all thank all those constituents of mine who have so very generously given of their time and their blood in the past. I want to also encourage those who might not have considered this in the past to contemplate the profound significance of making a donation of the very valuable gift of life—that is, the blood that they have to sustain their own life.

Much has been said on both sides of the parliament about the significance of donating blood to those in our society who are in desperate need of it. The donation of blood is a voluntary gesture. It is unpaid. Donors are only recognised by the profound generosity of their deed. The selflessness of Australians in providing a reliable and sufficient supply of blood really does deserve the full respect and applause of the rest of us. The theme for this year’s World Blood Donor Day is Many Happy Returns. It highlights the importance of giving blood on a regular basis. The healthy lifestyle that regular donors lead makes the blood supply the safest possible, which is the key reason that Australia has one of the most effective blood supply systems in the world. As many of my colleagues have said previously—and I echo their comments—in Australia some 21,000 donations are required every week. Blood, as we would all know, cannot be manufactured. It is the gift of life. It is precious and sourced from within us, and we are able to donate to those in need of it. More regular donors are needed to build and maintain a sustainable blood supply system in our country. That will play a crucial role in meeting the increased demands for blood products and blood transfusion services. We have in this country one of the finest organisations going—that is, the Australian Red Cross—which manages and encourages Australians to donate blood.

The giving of blood, as I said, is a selfless act that helps not only those who have suffered from traumatic incidents, such as accidents or burns, but also those Australians who suffer from medical conditions such as cancer, heart disease, stomach and bowel disease and liver and kidney diseases and also people with haemophilia, newborn babies and pregnant women. In fact, some 30 per cent of donated blood goes to cancer patients, including those who are suffering from leukaemia. Another 30 per cent goes to those suffering from heart, stomach and bowel disease, and another 40 per cent goes to burns and accident victims and kidney and liver disease patients. The giving of blood is a significant deed. One of my political heroes is Winston Churchill, and one of his famous sayings is, ‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.’ I also want to take the opportunity in the parliament to thank the volunteers of the Australian Red Cross, who—like so many volunteers across so many wonderful charities and not-for-profit organisations in this country—tirelessly give of their time, their skill and their services to encourage their fellow Australians to donate blood.

Unfortunately, blood components have a shelf life of up to five days for platelets, 42 days for red cells and up to one year for plasma. So it is easy to understand why the need for blood is constant. As the federal member for Ryan, I take this opportunity to encourage not only my fellow Australians to donate blood, like my colleagues have done, but also specifically those in my electorate. Those people living in the Ryan electorate all know that the big Red Cross buses are at the Indooroopilly shopping centre—(Time expired)

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to congratulate the member for Werriwa for bringing this very important motion to the House. I stand here not only as a person who has benefited from a blood transfusion but also as somebody who is now a regular blood donor. It is very appropriate that this motion is before the House at this particular time, with World Blood Donor Day being on 14 June. Unfortunately, it is held on a Saturday and I am not too sure how many people will be able to give blood on that day. I will be donating blood on Tuesday, 10 June, the closest date to 14 June that I could arrange. I would encourage members of this House to do the same as I am doing, particularly around World Blood Donor Day.

Importantly, all donations are made by volunteers in Australia. The safety of those donations is assured because of the vigilant way the Red Cross test the blood. In fact, not everybody can give blood. At this point, I would like to congratulate the Red Cross for the fine work that they do. I emphasise that volunteers give blood in Australia. People receive no payment for giving their blood and that is one factor that assures the safety of the blood that people receive.

As I mentioned, not everybody can donate blood. We heard from the member for Dawson, who is unable to donate blood because he was in the UK between 1980 and 1996. If you have had a tattoo, if you have had cancer or if you have an infection, it will impact on the quality of your blood. If you take certain medications, you can perhaps give blood but those medications can actually impact on the quality of your blood and your platelets can be affected. Something as simple as Nurofen can have an impact on the quality of your blood. The taking of certain other medications means that you cannot give blood. If you have had multiple sexual partners or unprotected sex, both these things prohibit donating blood. But all these things prohibiting the donation of blood ensure the safety of the blood that people in Australia receive.

The member for Dawson, I think, also mentioned that a blood donor is basically having a health check every time they go along to give blood. People with certain medical conditions are unable to give blood—people with heart conditions and pregnant women. My daughter is a regular blood donor. She is currently pregnant and she said to me that she is missing being able to go along and give blood. I have a very close friend who, for many years, donated blood. He was just short of his 100th donation and his haemoglobin count fell. He was around age 75 when he stopped giving blood. I was speaking to him tonight and he said to me, ‘I’d still be giving it, if it wasn’t for that.’

All the staff in my office went en masse to give blood. When we went along, unfortunately, a number of the staff were unable to give blood. One person had recently had a tattoo and another had an infection. Out of the staff, only two of us could give blood.

It has already been stated by other members what the blood is used for, so I will not go over that. But only one in 30 people actually donate blood. The body replaces the blood within 24 to 48 hours and replenishes red blood cells over a 10- to 12-week period. There are 21,000 donations required each week, so I would like to call on all members in this House to give their blood and to do what I am going to do—go out there, as close as they can to World Blood Donor Day, and give that gift of life.

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) 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.