Page 489 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 21 February 2012
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purpose of organ and tissue donation in the ACT. This will also increase the efficiency of obtaining family consent for organ and tissue donation in the ACT.
I mention that the amendments to part 1 of the act are in line with the COAG endorsed national reform package for organ and tissue donation. In light of considerable cross-border activity, the proposed amendments will also be consistent with the relevant corresponding legislation in New South Wales; namely, the Human Tissue Act 1983.
I now turn to the amendments to part 3 of the act. The object of the amendments to part 3 of the act is to allow authorised and trained tissue retrievalists to retrieve all tissue, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, eye and skin tissue, and not just eye tissue, for the purpose of corneal transplantation. Section 31(2) of part 3 of the act covers the removal of eye tissue for the purpose of corneal transplantation. The amendments to part 3 of the act are required to allow authorised and trained tissue retrievalists to retrieve all tissue, not just eye tissue, in a timely manner.
These amendments will help bring the ACT requirements for tissue retrieval into line with the equivalent New South Wales Human Tissue Act 1983 and will also help to increase the retrieval rates of tissue for donation in the ACT. Essentially, the amendments will expand the role of existing tissue retrievalists and will not require the recruitment of additional retrievalists at this stage. The amendments to part 3 of the act are in line with our COAG-endorsed national reform package for organ and tissue donation.
It is anticipated that these reforms will increase organ and tissue donation and retrieval rates in the ACT, a much needed reform for the organ and tissue donation sector in the ACT, and for all citizens who rely on the timely delivery of these services in this region.
In conclusion, it is important to note that we are in DonateLife Week this week. There are a range of events to promote organ and tissue donation across the community. Obviously the legislation is well timed for that but there are a series of events over the next week to promote organ and tissue donation. I think as leaders of the community in this place we should all be ensuring that we are on the register ourselves as a first thing, because we cannot urge other people to be organ donors if we are not registered to be organ donors ourselves.
The second thing is to ensure that people close to us, people we talk to, are discussing organ donation and their own wishes with their families and their loved ones, because all the evidence shows that the single biggest thing we can do to support continued improvements in our organ donation rates is to ensure that those around us who might be put in a position where they have to make a decision about organ donation actually are aware of what an individual’s wishes are. That very difficult decision, often needing to be made fairly quickly, is a lot easier if loved ones and family members of an individual in that situation are aware of what their loved one’s wishes were.
I think they are the two important messages that the Assembly, after passing this legislation, could go out to the community and promote. I thank members for their support for this bill.
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