Wednesday, 31 July 2024

Legal and Social Issues Committee

Register and Talk about It: Inquiry into Increasing the Number of Registered Organ and Tissue Donors

Ella GEORGE (Lara) (10:55): It is a pleasure to rise today to speak once more on the Legislative Assembly’s Legal and Social Issues Committee report Register and Talk about It: Inquiry into Increasing the Number of Registered Organ and Tissue Donors. This week is DonateLife Week, the national week for raising awareness about organ and tissue donation. DonateLife Week is a reminder to all of us to register to become a donor, to check our registration status and make sure it is up to date, to have conversations with our family about our donation wishes and to encourage others to get registered and talk about it with their families.

Here in Victoria raising awareness about becoming a registered donor could not be more important. Eighty-three per cent of Victorians support donation but only 23 per cent of Victorians are registered to be donors, and this pales in comparison to states like South Australia, where registrations are around 70 per cent.

DonateLife does the important work of providing accessible and easy-to-understand information about organ and tissue donation in Australia. They also provide resources and information about organ and tissue donation and encourage education about this subject. This year the DonateLife Week theme is the gift of life, a sentiment which was attested to throughout the committee inquiry and particularly during the committee’s public hearings.

Throughout the hearings we heard the lived experiences of those whose families have donated organs and tissues and those who have been recipients of organ and tissue donations themselves. The committee heard from Robert Manning, who is an organ donor recipient. Robert spoke to the committee on his 600th day since coming out of his coma, which was incredibly moving. In March 2021 Robert was told that he had end-stage liver disease and was only given 12 months to live. Robert spoke of the shock of this confronting news, and how despite his prognosis he still felt well. After months of testing without answers, in December Robert was admitted to hospital and placed on life support in intensive care after having multiple organ failure. He woke up on 2 January 2022 after spending two weeks in a coma. Whilst he was in a coma Robert received a liver donation. He said to the committee:

I had a new liver and a new lease on life. From that moment I started wanting to give back.

One of the barriers that the committee found to organ and tissue donation is concern from family members. An individual could have consented to organ donation through their registration as a donor, but it is often the family’s direction whether or not this is followed through. And when facing a decision about organ and tissue donation, a decision that no family ever wants to have to make, if your family does not know your wishes, then they may not be able to uphold them. The committee found that conversations about an individual’s wishes are critical. In fact those conversations are just as important as registering to become a donor.

Signing up to be an organ donor is a simple process. It only takes a minute, but this minute has the potential to save lives. The committee found that a deceased donor can help up to seven people through organ donation and 200 people through tissue donations.

Along with DonateLife there are many other organisations also doing important work in educating the Victorian community about organ and tissue donation. During the inquiry the committee heard from Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation. Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation was established in 2005 after Allan Turner’s daughter Zadie Rose Alexander Turner died suddenly at the age of seven years. Zaidee was the only child in Victoria that year to be an organ and tissue donor under the age of 16. Zaidee saved and improved the lives of seven others with her generous gift of life. Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation has worked to promote organ and tissue donation in major sporting leagues, including the AFL and the NRL, as well as promoting organ and tissue donations in schools and the community, proving that this is a conversation that can be had with young people. Zaidee’s has been a strong voice in the organ donation space for over 15 years, and I would like to thank Allan for his unwavering advocacy and his contributions to the inquiry.

I would like to take this opportunity during DonateLife Week to encourage my colleagues and all Victorians to consider becoming organ and tissue donors, and I encourage Victorians to talk to their families about their wishes about organ and tissue donation. Knowing your family members’ wishes is critical when it comes to donation.

Once again I would like to thank the members of Parliament and the committee secretariat who worked on this report as well as those who made submissions to this very important topic of organ and tissue donation.