Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Greens leader, Senator Di Natale, I rise to make a contribution on the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority Amendment (New Governance Arrangements) Bill 2016. This bill makes changes to the governance arrangements of the Australian Organ and Tissue Authority, removing the existing advisory council and replacing it with a board. The bill follows the commissioning by the government of a review into the implementation of the national reform agenda on organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

The review was required in large part due to the declining organ donation rates in 2014. The Ernst & Young review made a range of recommendations, including changes to the governance arrangements for the Organ and Tissue Authority. The Greens will support this legislation as it is in line with the recommendations of the independent review, but in doing so we want to put the government on notice that we are continuing to keep a sharp focus on the success of the authority and the reforms on driving up donation rates in Australia.

In July 2008 the then Australian government announced a national reform program to implement 'the world's best-practice approach to organ and tissue donation for transplantation'. This is exactly the objective we should have in Australia, but, unfortunately, by no measure can we claim success on this pursuit. In fact, despite the more than $250 million that has been spent on this reform agenda since 2008, Australia ranks 22nd in the world for organ donation, having actually dropped two places in 2014. We are going backwards. The problem with going backwards in this field is that there are lives not saved—Australian children, men and women who are needlessly lost who could have been given the miracle of another lease on life.

Australia's donation rate is currently at 16.9 donors per million population and the government has said that it wants to achieve 25 donors per million population by 2018. That is an ambitious target from where we are now. We want to see that happen, too. We will be keeping a watch on whether this reform will serve to improve the rate.

The government has said that this change to the governance arrangements, in line with the E&Y recommendations, is about better implementation of the reform agenda. We do support that. But the proof as ever is in the pudding. Who will comprise this board and will their mix of skills and expertise be the best possible to drive forward innovation to get that donation rate up? The legislation does set out a complex process of the nomination for members, through the states, and sets out the required set of skills they ought to possess. It has been raised with us that the lack of reference in the list of relevant skills to managerial, financial or business experience is likely to result in a repetition of the problems that beset the existing advisory council, and misses an opportunity to in fact expand the board. The new board assumes responsibility from the CEO for the setting and monitoring of strategic goals. It is certainly the case that we need to see the best most innovative thinking from the board in setting and meeting those very goals. Let us make sure that we are not repeating the problems of the past, which, we have seen, simply are not delivering the results that Australia deserves and expects.

The Greens welcome the government's moves last year to investigate the reasons for the disappointing results for organ donation reform and we support the donation reform agenda, through the Organ and Tissue Authority. We will be continuing to monitor the progress and, hopefully, the outstanding success of this new process.