Annette Ellis (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What a pleasure it is to rise this evening in this place to talk about the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority Bill 2008. It is not that long ago—in fact, it was in February this year—that I was given the opportunity to speak in the parliament on a private member’s motion on organ donation. I want to reflect on that because at the time I told a story about two people in my electorate whom I knew personally. Very sadly, one had recently passed away. That was the late Justice Terry Connolly, who was a very dear friend of mine. He died very suddenly at the age of 49. His wife, Helen, and her two daughters, Lara and Maddy, consented to having Terry’s corneas donated. The family felt very strongly about organ donation and, as I believe it does in a lot of cases like this, it assisted them in dealing with their grief. That was a generous thing on the part of that family.

At the same time, I spoke about young Cordelia, whom many of us have heard of since. At the time I made reference to her, in February, she was a tiny tot 10 months old, desperately in need of a liver transplant. She had a very rare liver condition. The family had done all they could at that point to publicise the fact that they needed a liver donation, understanding of course that some other child or person had to pass away for that to happen. Happily, we all now know that a liver did become available to Cordelia, and the last reports we have had suggest that she is doing extremely well.

The other story that I want to refer to—without revealing names because I prefer not to do that—is that of a family in my electorate known to very dear friends of mine. They were recently devastated by the suicide of their 14-year-old son. It happened only in the last four to six weeks. That family was struck down by this tragedy, but if there is a positive and a negative side to an agenda then the positive side of that agenda was that five people were beneficiaries of organ donation from that young man, through his family. Again, it gave them some means by which they could deal with their grief, and the family obviously had a very positive attitude to organ donation.

I understand that around June 2007 there were just on 47½ thousand ACT residents on the Australian Organ Donor Register—that is, approximately 18 per cent of the eligible ACT population had formally registered at that point. As local members, we all put out community newsletters. Earlier this year, in fact around the time of Organ Donor Awareness Week, I took the step of including in my community newsletter the official form for registering for organ donation, provided by the HIC. While we will never know, I would like to think that there was some positive outcome to that.

The reason we are here tonight is to talk about the bill the government has brought forward, which we all hope—and I think we know—is going to make an enormous difference to the very tough road that some people have to go down in looking at the question of organ donation. I am really proud to be part of a government that has taken such a wonderful lead, and I thank the Prime Minister and commend him for that. I do not think anybody in this building could do otherwise than commend the action to bring a national approach to the question of organ and tissue donation in this country.

As other speakers have said, just over $150 million will be put towards this package. Money is easy to talk about in terms of figures; what we really need to talk about is what it is going to do. It is going to make a huge difference to the way in which the question of organ donation is approached in this country, be it for the family of someone recently deceased or be it in the staffing and resources that are available in hospitals and elsewhere where these decisions are made. The reason for this legislation is to bring things together in a national way to ensure that everything that can enhance and smooth over this difficult process is put in place.

Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, I do not whether you were home early enough on Monday night to see the Andrew Denton show. I happened to get home and turn my TV on towards the end of it. On that program Denton makes a habit of having show and tell, I think he calls it, at the end of the program. There was this enthusiastic young woman sitting next to him whom he interviewed. Her story was that she contracted diabetes at the age of 12 and here she was, I think by now in her late 30s, telling her story of how as a result of the diabetes she had developed very, very serious kidney disease.

Earlier this year she was facing the possibility of having to go onto permanent dialysis and maybe not having a very good health outcome overall anyway. She had been on the organ donation waiting list for years. She told the story of how one Saturday morning at half past six there was a phone call to say that there was action at the hospital. She was a successful case of kidney and pancreatic donation, which means not only did it save her from the kidney disease but it took away the diabetes as well. For the first time since she was 12 she no longer had to deal with diabetes, sugar levels and injections. Again, that is another wonderful story. The problem for our country is that, as marvellous as those stories have been, there have not been enough of them. We have not had enough opportunity to push, argue, cajole and convince people that this is really the right way to go—to do organ donation.

The establishment of the national authority to run the new national organ and tissue donation process is to be applauded by everyone. It is a terrific initiative and something that I know is going to benefit so many people. When I think about the individuals I have referred to very briefly this evening and while I thank those who made the lives of those people all the better—and we pay regard to the grief behind those donations—this is one way that we can actually pull it together nationally. We can have a fully responsible process for donation and encourage far more involvement from the general community at large in listing themselves for organ donation. Not only that but, if and when the question arises, the process of organ and tissue donation can go ahead in the most seamless and the most convenient way for everybody concerned. It is a pleasure for me to endorse this bill heartily to the House, and I look forward to its passage, knowing that on its passage we will see this whole process begin on 1 January 2009.

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