Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to raise an issue that is close to my heart. In fact, it is close to my liver, lungs and kidneys, as it is to yours. I am talking about organ donation. The number of organ donors in this country is declining. This should be of great concern. As the Age reported on 10 January, the Australian and New Zealand Organ Donation Registry found that 204 people donated organs in Australia in 2005, representing a seven per cent drop on the 218 donors of the previous year. The result is blow-outs in waiting times for kidney transplants, in some cases to more than four years.

The national picture sketched by the Australian and New Zealand Donor Registry was not pretty. Organ donation rates dropped 49 per cent in South Australia, 14 per cent in New South Wales and 10 per cent in Queensland. This was offset to a degree by increases in the donation rate in Western Australia of 30 per cent and of 11 per cent in Victoria. In my home state last year, only two Tasmanians donated their organs to help others. Nationally, the donor rate fell from 10.8 to 10 donors per million in our population. It is a worrying trend.

Put these donation rates alongside the organ transplant waiting lists in this country and it gets a whole lot more concerning. As of 1 January this year the Australian and New Zealand Organ Donation Registry figures show that, nationwide, 1,407 Australians are awaiting kidney transplants. This figure includes 395 in Victoria and Tasmania. One hundred and twenty-five liver transplants are needed; 41 Australians are waiting for new hearts; 11 need heart-lung transplants; 94 Australians, including 57 Tasmanians and Victorians measured together, need new lungs to breathe; and 31 need new pancreases and kidneys.

In total, more than 1,716 people were identified as waiting for some form of organ transplant as of 1 January 2006. Some of these Australians will die waiting. The national organ donor registry is the only hope for those waiting. It could mean a second chance. We need to do much more as a country to take what I believe is a groundswell of community support for the concept of organ donation and turn it into actual consent.

One unfortunate fact of organ donation is that it usually coincides with the death of the donor. This brings a range of factors into play that can influence the likelihood of a successful transplant occurring. If the donor was involved in a serious road accident, were the organs damaged? Did the donor suffer from an undiagnosed medical condition—for example cancer, hepatitis or renal disease—that makes transplanting the donor’s organs to another patient unviable? It also brings the wishes of the donor’s surviving family members into play. This is possibly the most gut wrenching and tough aspect of all when dealing with organ donation. For some families, the thought of their recently deceased family member having organs removed and given to another human being is too much to bear. It is hard to think of another life when you are coming to terms with the fact that a loved one is no longer with you. Ethical and religious issues can also come into play for some families.

Collectively, these circumstances can lead to missed opportunities for donation and there is no easy way around it, but one thing can help. If a potential donor has taken the time to discuss with other family members the decision and desire to donate their organs, the decision for families in mourning is an easier one. I urge prospective donors to discuss their decision in detail with all their family members. I understand that death is never the easiest thing to discuss, but we need to start thinking about organ donation as a conversation of life, not death, in our families and in our communities.

It is particularly appropriate for me to be standing here tonight to discuss this issue. In a few short weeks, Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week will be held. This event is the largest public awareness campaign we have that is associated with organ and tissue donation for transplantation in Australia. This year, Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week runs from 19 to 25 February. I encourage members of the public and, indeed, any senators or members who may have thought in the past of joining to take this opportunity to sign up to the consent register.

With good public awareness campaigns and the support of politicians across the political divide in this country, we can convert community support for the concept of organ donation into a higher donation rate in Australia. If we can do that, we will shorten our waiting lists and cut the number of Australians who die waiting for transplants. The Medicare Australia website has excellent information available about organ donation and Organ Donor Awareness Week. The website provides a simple way for people to record their consent or their objection to becoming an organ and/or tissue donor. I commend Medicare Australia on its leadership on this apolitical and important issue.

By focusing on the need for organ and tissue donation, encouraging people to discuss their wishes with their families and promoting the success of organ transplantation in Australia, Medicare Australia is taking crucial steps towards increasing our national organ donation rate. The key message for this year’s national Organ Donor Awareness Week is ‘organ donors save lives’. It is a simple message and a simple equation. Each donor may not save just one life; their organs may go to as many as 10 Australians in need of transplants. For instance, last year, from the 204 donors nationally, 373 Australians received new kidneys, 164 Australians received new livers, 72 Australians gained new hearts and a further 78 Australians breathed a little easier with new lungs. The impact of the generosity of the donors and their families who assisted these Australians in need of transplants is immeasurable. The gift of these organs has truly given those who have received them a chance to live life where none existed before. To me, it is a miracle that medicine can perform the surgery to allow this, but it is equally a miracle and a triumph of human kindness that this occurs at all.

Having said that, demand for organs is outstripping supply. We have a lot of work to do as a country to lift the profile and participation rates for organ donation. Nationally, more than 670,000 Australians have registered consent to organ or tissue donation. But there is still more to do, particularly in my home state where the donor rate is only four donors per million population. That compares to rates of 20 per million population in the Northern Territory, 17 in the ACT and 13 in South Australia.

I will be taking up the challenge to do all I can to promote organ donation in Tasmania. I believe that Tasmanians on the whole support the concept of organ donation and they want to help save lives. We have to turn that into consent. As of 31 December 2005, the total number of those who had registered consent or intent to be an organ donor was 18,293. Converting that interest into actual donations is the big challenge ahead, especially with the waiting lists being so long.

National statistics tend to group Tasmania and Victoria together, but the implication from the data is clear. Tasmania and Victoria account together for close to one-third of the national waiting lists for organ transplants. Five hundred and four people are waiting in these states right now. Tasmania needs to lift its number of donors and the forthcoming awareness week is the perfect time to start. Registering more Tasmanians will be the first crucial step. Encouraging Tasmanians to have the conversation with their families about donation will be the second. As I have said, this is not an easy conversation to have because losing a loved one is something we would rather not think about, but this conversation is nevertheless a critical element in the donation process.

The third step to increasing donation rates in Tasmania and right around the country is ensuring that intensive care wards in our hospitals and our hospital system in general are better geared towards identifying and coordinating potential donors. That requires all levels of government to work together. It means making sure that the resources are there for hospitals to keep track of potential donors within our hospital system. It requires our hospitals to establish strong management processes for identifying and capturing donor opportunities as they arise. More than 30,000 Australians have received transplants in the last 60 years. With improving medical technology and techniques, these recipients are enjoying many years of good quality life that could not have been available to them without a transplant. I thank the Senate for its time.