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Home > Ministers > The Hon Catherine King MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing > Media Hub > Speech at the National Launch of DonateLife Week, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

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PDF printable version of Speech at the National Launch of DonateLife Week, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra (PDF 36 KB)

15 February 2012

I recognise the traditional owners of the land upon which we gather today – the Ngunnawal people – and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

• Her Excellency the Governor-General Ms Quentin Bryce
• Sam Chisholm
• Ms Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, Director-General of the National Library of Australia
• Trish Crews of the National Rugby League, and our NRL DonateLife champions
• Lynda Ward from my own electorate of Ballarat is here too
• And a special welcome to Melanie, Hayley and Chloe and mother Sonja who have come today to share Mitchell’s story.

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the organ and tissue donors who have given the gift of life and improved the lives of thousands of Australians in need.

And particularly the families who have had the courage to make this life changing decision and the transplant recipients who are joining us here today.

Much like the journey the Book of Life has undertaken, I have been moving around the country, meeting with members of the DonateLife network and speaking with transplant recipients and donor families.

It has been a true privilege to have this experience and I’m continually moved by the stories I hear and the transformative experience I see that’s given through the gift of life.

When I visited the Royal Adelaide Hospital last year I had the pleasure of meeting Mary Harrigan and her husband Kerry who were about to head off on an eight week holiday together – something they could never have considered doing before Mary had her kidney transplant. Indeed none of the things so many of us take for granted every day.

Or Amanda Barr and her three year old daughter Sophie who I met in Tasmania. Sophie received a life-saving liver transplant in July last year.

She now has a future thanks to a courageous family who agreed to their loved one becoming an organ donor. Sophie’s family can now watch her grow into the beautiful girl she was destined to be.

And Lynda Ward who I mentioned earlier who has travelled from Ballarat. Lynda was able to spend another 11 years with her father after he received a life saving heart transplant.

This is such a remarkable gift but as Australians it’s not one we give widely enough.

Last year was our strongest year on record. 337 donors provided life changing and saving transplants for 1,001 Australians. But there is much more to be done if we are to reach our target donation rate.

As many of you would know the number of instances in which organ donation is a possibility is very small. And in many cases when a family does not consent to donation it’s not because of direct opposition but because people simply don’t know the wishes of their loved one.

This is why it’s so important families discuss their intention with one another and events like DonateLife Week are so important.

I would also like to acknowledge another group of Australians – our living donors.

These generous Australians take the decision to donate a kidney – and in rare occasions a partial liver – to a loved one, whose only chance of survival is a transplant.

The Paired Kidney Exchange Program allows Australians who are in need of a kidney transplant to enrol as a pair with a relative or friend, who is willing to donate a kidney, but is not compatible with their loved one.

By matching donors and recipients between enrolled pairs it is possible for a living donor to donate a kidney to an anonymous recipient in order for their loved on to receive a kidney from another anonymous donor.

People like Darren, who desperately wanted to donate a kidney to his nine-year-old son Josh, but could not because they were not compatible.

Under the Paired Kidney Exchange Program last year, Darren donated his kidney to another Australian in desperate need, and his son Josh received a life-saving kidney transplant thanks to the gift of a kidney from an anonymous compatible living donor.
It is an extraordinary gift.

For us to reach our true potential in organ and tissue donation, and to ensure even more Australians can receive the gift of life requires a concerted effort.

Our capacity to do this is enhanced tenfold by all of you who are here today who have shared your stories in the Book of Life and all of you who work in the organ and tissue donation sector.

I know Chris Thomas and Alan Amodeo from Transplant Australia are here today and I would like to make special mention of the work Transplant Australia and the other NGOs in the sector do. Their work has a positive impact on lifting the organ donation rate in Australia and for that the Government is very grateful.

Indeed we have formed a number of new partnerships as part of DonateLife Week 2012, notably with the NRL well represented here today.

This partnership with the NRL includes a Community Service Announcement that will be broadcast nationally and NRL DonateLife champions and One Community Ambassadors – some of whom are here today.

So during DonateLife Week this year, as events are held across communities around the country in cities and towns, shopping centres, hospitals, universities, sporting clubs and everywhere else I thank you for your support in sending the message that it’s OK to talk about organ and tissue donation.

I thank you all once again for your attendance here today, especially those who have shared your story in the Book of Life and made the journey to Canberra. And of course a special thanks to the Brennan family and Melanie who we will hear from in a moment.

But before we hear from Melanie please join me in welcoming Trish Crews from the NRL.