RICHARD DOWLING, SENATOR FOR TASMANIA: We’re here today to recognise that a single decision in a moment of grief can save multiple lives to give people a second chance. To tell you more about that today, we have Federal Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Rebecca White. We have the CEO of the Organ and Tissue Authority, Lucinda Barry, and we also have Michele Polley, a strong advocate for organ donation, and her son Aaron’s gift saved four lives. So, some great stories. But to hand over and tell you a bit more, I’m going to pass to Rebecca White.
REBECCA WHITE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING: Morning. So today is an opportunity to celebrate the gift of life. In Australia, since we established DonateLife, over 20,000 people have had gifts of an organ donated to them which is a remarkable thing for any Australian to do for another person in our community. We've seen over 7500 Australians donate to the DonateLife program since it began in 2009. I'm really proud that over the course of the last year, 2025, we actually saw a record number of donations provided across Australia. Because of that, 1,438 people had a second chance at life. That is a record number of people who were able to receive the gift of an organ donation, and that is due to the generosity of families who made a very tough decision, during an incredibly difficult time. But because of the decision they made, they've been able to save the life of somebody else. Across the country, we actually saw 557 donations occur, which is again another record of increase of 6 per cent on what we saw the year prior.
So what we know is across the country when families are able to have a conversation with their loved ones, and they agree that organ donation is something they believe in, we have about eight out of ten of those situations result in somebody saying yes, and agreeing to the gift of life that those, one of the most tragic times in somebody's life, facing circumstances that somebody they love had died. But we also know that where those conversations don't happen, that decision can be much harder. So, today we're calling on Australians have a conversation with their family. If you believe in organ donation, have a discussion about it because it's not just as simple as registering and thinking that the job is done. It is really vital to have a conversation with your loved ones so they know what your wishes are. We want Australians who are interested in this, believe in this, to know that they've had a conversation with their families because it will save Australians around the country. We saw that last year with the record number of people receiving the gift of life with an organ donation.
Across the country, we've seen consent rates of about 53 per cent. Here in Tasmania, I'm really proud that our consent rate is 76 per cent, and it’s due to a number of things. It’s because of the team here at DonateLife who are working at our hospitals, the hospital staff who are having conversations with families in those really difficult moments, but also the fact that across our community, I think we do a good job of talking to one another about the importance of registering to become an organ donor, but also sharing that information with your families.
What I would love to see is the rest of the country following Tasmania’s lead and lift from that 53 per cent consent rate to match Tasmanians at 76 per cent or even better. And today is an opportunity for us to spark that conversation with your family, have a chat about organ donation. If you believe in it, register at DonateLife, it’s very simple to do that, or through the Medicare app.
It's really important people understand it's not automatically on your drivers license any longer unless you're in South Australia. We are of course looking at whether or not we can change this across the country, because we want to make it as easy as possible for people to be able to register to become an organ donor. But very important that even if you do that that, you have a conversation with family. And one of those families that was able to give the gift of life to four other people is Aaron's family. Michele, his mum who is with us today made that tough decision when she was faced with her 20-year-old son dying. I can’t imagine a more tragic situation to have to confront. But because of the decision and the fact that she knew Aaron’s wishes, they were able to pass on a gift of life to four other people.
I'm going to ask Michele to share a little bit about her story and then I'll take questions.
MICHELE POLLEY, DONOR FAMILY: In 2003, Aaron was having a holiday with his mates and made a silly decision to go for a drive, and they drove too fast and rolled the car, and the impact of their car crash caused brain injury. He was flown to Royal Hobart Hospital, and later we received that awful phone call, well- sorry, interesting train of events because they were mates, they were partying together. When they heard the car leave the property, they ran after the boys to stop them. And so, his mate phoned me and said: “Aaron's been in an accident.” And that's all I knew. But then there was a knock at the door, and police informed me that Aaron has been involved in an accident, been flown to Hobart, and we made our way to Hobart. It was really difficult because they had to of course stabilise and ready him to go to ICU, so there was a very long wait. And then when we did see him in in the hospital, he looked so normal. Had a small scratch on his face and a brain drain, brain swelling – the accident had caused the brain to swell because of the trauma. But at all times, the hospital staff were amazing. They kept us informed of what they were doing. They spoke to Aaron about they were doing involving him in a really beautiful way, and we spent a day with him. We read him Harry Potter, it was his favourite series, and just kept praying, hoping, loving him, telling him to hold our hand, take our strength to get better.
That evening the ICU doctor took us aside and said the brain drain has popped out, it’s stopped working, and we believe there's such a brain injury that it may be a brain death, but we would need to make that call after a scan but had we considered organ donation? Not forcing it or making us feel hurried by it in any way. It was something for us to talk about. But we had this conversation. We knew Aaron’s wishes.
A year or so previous, we had a discussion. We'd seen something on TV about organ donation. We had a dinner table conversation and Aaron said: “of course I would, what are they to me when I'm dead and buried?” Okay, well, let's go and sign up, we didn’t talk about it again. Fast forward a year and a bit later and we just looked at one another and said: we know what Aaron wanted, he told us, so yes, we will donate, hard as that is to say and, but comfortable to say because we had the conversation and we knew his wishes.
The next day they did lots of tissue and organ- sorry, tissue matching, blood matching. His scan showed that the impact of the accident- car crash has caused a brain death, so there was no brain activity, but he said that his heart was still beating, his heart was pumping toward his organs making his organs viable. The ventilation was keeping him breathing, and that heart was pumping away.
And so after many questions on all sorts of lifestyle choices by Aaron and tests, even then the hospital staff talked to Aaron. He was part of this. He was not just the body on the bed, he was a young man. And then the next day we knew the surgeons were flying in to retrieve the organs. It's early in the morning, but I was able to come across to the hospital, spend a couple of minutes with him as he was wheeled away. That was very helpful for me. Wait for him to come back after the retrieval process, and then spend some time with him and help me understand that he had passed, because up until then he was still warm. So thankful for having that.
Since then, DonateLife has been amazing, and I asked to receive any information about the donors. So I know there were four recipients. Sorry, I asked to receive information about the recipients, I know there was four. I’ve received correspondence from all four, I’ve written to all of them and over twenty or so years, have had many messages and followed these amazing Australians, their lives and they are loving life, which has been very comforting.
They say it's really hard to know what to write, but really you just need to say thank you for my gift, and then show that you're going to live your life. Aaron was a go-getter. He was a very vibrant, fun-loving young man. And to know that he’s given four other people the chance to live their lives has really helped.
JOURNALIST: Do you know a bit about some of these people’s lives?
POLLEY: So Kate was 20, and Aaron's age. And that was a really nice correlation for us to see that. She had cystic fibrosis, she received Aaron’s lungs. And it's a beautiful story. She travelled, she studied nursing. She became a registered nurse. She went to work in ICU. She became a donation specialist nurse, which was very beautiful. And she met a lovely Irishman, fell in love, and was living her life. Then tragically cancer took her. I was able to correspond with her mum afterwards through DonateLife.
Darren was a 40 year-old motorbike rider, which was really lovely as Aaron was, and he lived life to the fullest every day. Bernie, his heart recipient, wrote: “I jump out of bed every morning and I feel great with my young heart and my 60 year-old body goes urrgh!”
And Elizabeth, who was a 60 year old grandmother who lived to see her great grandchildren and she lived for 20 years and has beautiful family, it has been very heart-warming to hear their lives.
JOURNALIST: What is your message to people who haven’t had conversations about donations? What would you say to them?
POLLEY: Don't make it a forced decision. Maybe after reading the newspapers today, or I'm not sure how they might bring it up, but maybe it's even just mum or dad being brave enough to say: “have we thought about what happens to us when we go?” Because as a society, we don't really talk about it, it’s just way over there and we're living our life and not thinking. So dinner table, all together, on a walk one day somewhere, say: “have we ever thought about what happens when you die if there is that situation which is very rare that it might be appropriate or viable to give, have we thought about what we might do with our organs - would we donate? “ But definitely talk in a comfortable family situation and make your wishes known.
JOURNALIST: Thank you for sharing your story. I just wanted to ask about drivers licences and the push for states to have organ donation on drivers licences again [indistinct]?
WHITE: So I’ve sought some advice on this and the steps that could be taken, and we’ve been working with the states and territories to make sure that we have a national registry that is reflective of what's happening with registration in each jurisdiction. What we want ultimately is to make it as easy as possible for people to register as an organ donor, and people can do that now through the DonateLife website and through the Medicare app. But if we can also include it in things like a drivers license, I'm very interested to understand how we can make that work.