Page 630 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 9 March 2011
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Greens share in the sentiment—we agree on an issue unanimously and I think that it points to the importance of this issue, both in the ACT and across Australia of course, and how we all feel about it so that we can join together in a moment of bipartisan or tripartisan support for an issue. Obviously talking about organ and tissue donation is sometimes not easy, because talking about donation is talking about the tragic end to someone’s life. But that is why it is so important for us here in the Assembly to talk about this issue so openly today.
There have been many lifesaving breakthroughs in medical science, but organ and tissue donation must be seen as one of the most groundbreaking and, most importantly, hope-giving leaps forward in medical science. Transplants today, although they carry risk, have become a common procedure. Ongoing improvements in technology and techniques have meant that the success rates for these complicated surgeries continue to improve. 1954 saw the first kidney transplant performed in the United States by surgeon Joseph Murray, and, since 1965, 13,000 Australians have received transplants.
A successful transplant not only increases the quality of the recipient’s life but increases the quantity. It increases the time they have to spend with their family, to enjoy their friends and to achieve their goals and aspirations. Given the amazing benefits that transplants can bring to ordinary Australians, it does seem puzzling that as a nation we have one of the lowest rates of organ and tissue donation in the world.
When you see the generosity of spirit extended in Queensland during the floods, during the bushfires in Victoria or extended across the Tasman to the people of Christchurch, it is hard to rationalise why more Australians do not extend the same generosity of spirit at a time when it can achieve so much. We see Australians extending their hand to help at the first opportunity and going out of the way to make sure that those who are struggling are supported. We are proud of this fact and we call it the Australian way.
Certainly this spirit is reflected in the statistics about organ and tissue donation, with 98 per cent of Australians believing that donation is important. But this spirit is not reflected in the decision to consent to organ donation, where only 58 per cent of families give consent for donation to proceed. There is a good reason for this, and it is the lack of awareness and of knowledge.
I think that this argument could not be more accurately reflected than in the story of the Gough family. Canberran Melody Gough was tragically killed in a car accident on her way back to Cowra on Christmas Eve 2009. She tragically left behind her father, David, her mother, Robyn, and brother, Tim. Her mother, Robyn, was the only member of the family that knew of Melody’s dignified act of wishing to give an organ and tissue donation. I quote from an interview Robyn gave to the ABC:
My husband David, and son, Tim, weren’t aware of Melody’s decision and I know David’s first thought was ‘no, she’s been through enough’. But when I was able to say ‘this is what Mel wanted’, they had no hesitation in agreeing. It’s so important to tell loved ones when you make the decision to become an organ donor.
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