Page 635 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 9 March 2011

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I registered as an organ donor when I turned 18, and I have made my wishes very clear to my family and friends about what I want if something should happen to me.

The examples I cite are only a snippet of the lives affected by organ donation and transplantation. I hope that my colleagues and all people are able to put themselves in the shoes of someone with a seriously sick child, family member or friend who faces death without a transplant. Not only may this prompt many people who are not registered as donors to become one, it may also spark ongoing discussion and debate on future legislative reform.

Again I thank Mr Hargreaves for bringing this motion to the Assembly today. It is a vitally important issue that requires us to discuss it in an open way, and the Greens will be supporting the motion.

MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Health and Minister for Industrial Relations) (4.22): I join with Assembly colleagues in thanking you for bringing this motion forward today, Mr Hargreaves. It is a timely motion considering that the flags for DonateLife are still flying on Commonwealth Avenue bridge and the hard work of DonateLife Week has just wrapped up.

It is a rare but beautiful moment when all parties in the Assembly agree. In recognition that it is a rare moment, I think we should acknowledge that. But I think it is fantastic that, on an issue like organ and tissue donation, Canberra’s elected representatives are on the same page.

This motion is all about community. I can think of a lot of issues that are about community, but organ and tissue donation is certainly right there. It is around the generosity of individual Australians—in our case, individual Canberrans—to make a decision that will help the lives of other members of our community.

One of the reasons the ACT has done so well in acknowledging and promoting organ donation across our city is the fact that the community has been involved. Really the community has been at the forefront of developing the response around raising awareness for organ and tissue donation. Most of that credit needs to go to the non-government sector for the volunteer organisations that put in all the work. Here in the ACT, Gift of Life really has been at the front of that.

Other members have spoken around the numbers involved for people on waiting lists around Australia. I think there are 1,700 people currently waiting for an organ transplant. The reality for some of these people and their families is that some will die whilst waiting for a transplant. But for many others, the wait also means long weeks or months in hospital—or several trips to the hospital every week for patients who use renal dialysis. For some, it means being attached to an oxygen tank 24 hours a day. Mr Hargreaves acknowledged Anne Cahill Lambert, who joins us here today in the Assembly. For her, that is the reality of her life. I would like to thank her for coming in and listening to this debate here today.

In relation to the federal government, I think it is fair to say that there should be recognition where recognition is due; it needs to go to the former Prime Minister,


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