Kay Elson (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to have the opportunity today to speak on the motion of the member for Capricornia. She has raised a very important issue that deserves as much debate as possible. I agree with much of her motion.

It has always seemed to me to be a strange anomaly that in Australia—a nation that is renowned for its generosity, with one of the highest per capita financial donation rates in the world and one of the highest per capita volunteer rates in the world, and a nation where the ideal of helping out someone in need is at the heart of our nation’s ethos—we have one of the lowest organ and tissue donation rates in the world. As has been stated here already, the number of donors in Australia is just 11 per million population. That is half the US level of 21 and less than a third that of Spain, which, at 34 donors per million population, has the highest donation rate in the world.

It is very true that, as the motion states, public education plays a crucial role in encouraging people to register as organ donors and to discuss the issue of organ donation with their families. In this respect, the Howard government has been proactive. Last year we strengthened the Australian Organ Donor Register to make it a national register and to make it legally valid consent. We have had several awareness and community education campaigns and have recently announced new funding of $28 million over the next four years to fund a variety of initiatives, all aimed at raising donor rates.

The more that we can encourage Australian families to think and talk about this issue, the more Australians’ lives we can save—and that is really the bottom line. We have around 1,700 Australians waiting for donor organs and, sadly, some of those people will die waiting. Last year, 204 deceased Australians were able to give the gift of life and improve the health of over 700 grateful recipients. We have a very effective health system and highly trained doctors, but we just do not have enough donors. That is really the bottom line. I personally have registered myself as a donor but, more importantly, I have discussed this with my family and they know my wishes. That is one very important aspect of registering to donate your organs. I encourage other Australians to do so immediately.

I see no harm in the member for Capricornia’s suggestion in her motion that the government investigate the possibility of an opt-out system, although personally I am not convinced that this would solve the problem. While it is true that the opt-out system is in place in Spain, which has the highest donor rate, it is also in operation in Greece, which has an even lower donor rate than us at just eight donors per million people. So implementing an opt-out system is not necessarily the answer to the problem. I also personally think that automatic registration for what for many is a deeply personal and difficult issue has the potential to cause even more trauma for families at a difficult time.

Clearly the best way forward is to have people discuss their wishes and let their family know exactly what they want. We Australians are a pretty stoic bunch, and we tend not to discuss issues like death in any great detail with our families. But this is an issue which provides life and hope to many hundreds of Australians each year. Organ transplants enable people to get a second chance at life and to spend more years with their loved ones. We should always keep it uppermost in our minds that the recipient could be one of our loved ones or one of our friends and thus how important organ donation is for many of our fellow Australians and the difference it can make.

In closing, I pay tribute to the late Aussie cricket hero David Hookes for the remarkable role that he and his family have played in raising awareness of this issue. There is no doubt that his decision to donate his organs has directly saved the lives of many others. In an indirect way he has also raised awareness, and hopefully over time that will translate into many more lives being saved. The Howard government is very committed to working to raise the level of organ donation in Australia, and I thank the member for Capricornia for giving me the chance to speak on this issue in the House.

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