Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I am delighted to have the opportunity to highlight the extraordinary contribution to medicine in Australia and the world by Professor Stephen Lynch AC. Professor Lynch is in Canberra today—and, indeed, in the House with his family—to be invested as a Companion of the Order of Australia by the Governor-General. As he is in the gallery this afternoon, I want to congratulate him and pay tribute to his considerable contributions. He is a man of continuing achievement in education and training as professor of surgery at the University of Queensland. However, he is renowned for his work with liver transplants.

Professor Lynch is one of the team who in the 1980s pioneered techniques to transplant adult livers into children, and he was part of the team which performed the world's first successful liver transplant from a living donor. Professor Lynch has allowed parents to donate to their children and two patients to be saved with one liver. He and—as he would be the first to point out—his team have by default been responsible for saving thousands of lives the world over. Professor Lynch, with his usual modesty, downplays his role and highlights his team, the donors and others, including, importantly, his family, Genni, Kate and Lydia, who are with him today, and Dr Angelica. Professor Lynch and his family are indeed remarkable Australians.