Page 1090 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 May 2020
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MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (3.04), in reply: Acknowledging organ and tissue donation on a death certificate may seem like a simple gesture, but for some families whose loved ones, in death, gave the ultimate gift, this simple gesture will mean the world.
Madam Assistant Speaker, when I introduced the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration (Tissue Donor Acknowledgment) Amendment Bill 2020 earlier this year, I briefly spoke about Helen Day. You might recall that Helen’s son, Stewart, tragically died in a motorcycle accident in Canberra in 2012, four days shy of his 24th birthday. It is every parent’s worst nightmare—losing a child. Stewart’s death was sudden and unexpected. Amid the shock and grief, Helen, as Stewart’s next of kin, needed to make a significant decision—whether to consent to Stewart’s organs and tissue being donated to others. Ultimately, it is the family that is left behind that makes this decision, one that has the power to change numerous lives.
Helen knew Stewart would have wanted to be a donor, so she provided her consent. In death, Stewart went on to save six lives. Helen wants Stewart to be remembered as a man who gave back, in life and in death. It would mean so much to her to have greater acknowledgement of her son’s legacy.
She is not alone. Many donor families and advocates in the ACT and across Australia have told me that there are few tangible opportunities to formally acknowledge the significance of organ and tissue donation, and that the significance of the gift for some families is under-recognised.
This bill proposes amendments that would give families like Helen’s an avenue to gain greater recognition of their loved one’s donation—if they wish, if it is right for them. The bill is primarily about families having the option to have that their loved one was a tissue donor included on their loved one’s death certificate. Why is including it on a death certificate so important? It is not just because it is a permanent record. It is also because a death certificate is, in some ways, the formal summation of someone’s life. It can contain the vital statistics about a person. It follows, then, that it should accurately reflect their final, most generous act.
Three principles have guided me throughout the approach I have taken to this: that the opportunity to have this recognition on the death certificate be optional, entirely up to the family and not time limited. My aim has been to give each family control and agency in deciding if, how and when they wish to have their loved one’s donation recognised. I believe that the bill achieves this.
As has been flagged, the government is proposing three amendments, each of which I support. I do not intend to speak to them in the detail stage, so I will address each of them briefly now.
One is to delay the start date by a maximum 12 months. While I would like what is in this bill to begin immediately, I do appreciate that there is a bit of work behind the scenes in the directorate and with the registrar-general to give effect to the legislation, ensuring that the practicalities behind making sure the process of requesting that the
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