Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, too, would like to join those who have praised Robert Hill during the time that he was Leader of the Government in the Senate and as Minister for the Environment and Heritage. I am one of those people who came here in 1996, and so have no experience of what it was like to be in opposition or to have seen people like Robert Hill or, for that matter, John Howard working in opposition. I always found Robert Hill to be a person who was very approachable. He had a very good style of leadership in that he gently nudged people towards what he regarded as a good outcome. He was always somebody I found who thought through issues and had a considered opinion, which one could find reasons for.

I also endorse the remarks that Senator Bartlett has made about Robert Hill during his period as environment minister. I thought the Natural Heritage Trust, which the government set up when it first came into power, transformed the environment in Australia. The role of the federal government in the environment was transformed not only by the Natural Heritage Trust but also by the passing of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. As Chairman of the Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Legislation Committee, I travelled around Australia chairing the inquiry into that act. As we travelled around the country, we found that different people had different opinions. Robert Hill was prepared to develop amendments to the act, which took account of those varying opinions around the country. I think he was probably the best environment minister this country has had to date, and it was an area which he had a very great interest in and a commitment to.

What I rose to speak about tonight was organ donation. Last week was Organ Donor Awareness Week, and this evening I would like to use the opportunity of the adjournment debate to urge all Australians to consider becoming organ donors. All of us have the potential to save lives as organ donors. From the tragedy and trauma of death can come renewed life. In short, organ donation represents a tremendous act of generosity on the part of donors and their families to enhance the life expectancy and transform the quality of life of recipients. It is not widely known that one donor’s organs can be used to save the lives of up to 10 people. Organ donation truly is the gift of life and, for this reason alone, it is something that every Australian should give thoughtful consideration to.

We are fortunate in this country to have one of the highest transplant success rates in the world but not so fortunate to have one of the lowest donation rates in the developed world. An Australian is 10 times more likely to be on the organ transplant waiting list than to become an organ donor. In 2005, there were just 204 deceased donors. This is equivalent to 9.9 donors per million population—as I said previously, one of the lowest rates in the developed world. Conversely, in 2002, Spain had a rate of 34 donors per million population, the United States had a rate of 21.5 donors per million population and the UK had a rate of 12.9 donors per million population.

Given that only one in every 100 deaths in Australia occurs in circumstances which allow for organ donation, it is crucial that we maximise the number of people that are willing to donate their organs in the event of an untimely death. The Senate might be interested to learn that stroke is the leading cause of all deaths leading to organ donations—in fact, representing some 48 per cent. This is followed by road accidents, which are the cause of death in about 26 per cent of organ donation cases.

Last year, the federal, state and territory governments agreed to the establishment of a national donor consent register. Since June, over 710,000 Australians have registered their legal consent to become organ donors. Another 4.8 million Australians previously recorded their intent to become a donor, but the consent of their families will still be required at the relevant time. In January this year, there were more than 1,700 people on the national organ transplant waiting list, with 82 per cent of them requiring a kidney transplant. The average waiting period for a kidney transplant is almost four years, which, sadly, is often too long. Consequently, more people urgently need to sign up to the national organ donor consent register.

There are desperately ill people dying needlessly because there are not enough donors in this country. It is a sobering statistic that, in 2004, 20 per cent of the people on the organ transplant waiting list died before a suitable donor organ could be found. It is easy to get lost in these statistics, but at the end of the day we have to remember that each of these people is leaving behind loved ones who are affected by their death—parents, spouses and children—and that their grief could have been alleviated with the use of donated organs.

From April this year, each and every household in Australia will be sent an organ donation consent form in an effort to increase organ donation rates. I would like to hope that people will not throw these forms away as if they were just another bit of junk mail. Instead, I hope that they will give full consideration to the question of becoming an organ donor and discuss it with their family. I will certainly be filling out an organ donor consent form, and it is something that I will be encouraging my relatives and friends to do as well. In the event that Australia’s low rate of organ donation does not improve, something that might be considered is a national opt-out scheme of organ donation, whereby consent is presumed unless the person has expressed a clear wish not to donate his or her organs by electing to opt out of the scheme.

Finally, I would like to leave the Senate with the words of Geoff, a heart transplant recipient. His words speak volumes about the importance of organ donation. He said:

Thanks to my amazing donor family for the gracious gift of life because without them my life as I know it now would not have happened and I would not be here today. Their unselfish act not only gives you life but enables you to see your own family grow up. I’ve been able to watch my children grow from youngsters to adults.

Without my heart transplant I would not have been able to witness my children’s successes and help them along the way.