Labor welcomes the long delayed final report of the review into organ and tissue donations which confirms Labor’s 2009 reforms are working.
After two major reviews, a misplaced attempt to merge the Organ and Tissue Authority with the National Blood Authority, division and uncertainty and the loss of the Chairman, it is now time for the Turnbull Government to get behind Labor’s reforms and back the work of the authority.
The review, which Minister Nash has sat on for six months, was ordered in May with little or no consultation, prompting the resignation of Organ and Tissue Authority Chairman David Koch.
The report is an overwhelming endorsement of Labor’s reform.
“Since the implementation of the national reform programme in 2009, there has been an overall increase in the dpmp (Deceased donors per million population) by 41%.”
Indeed, the only time donations fell in that period was in the first full year of the Abbott/Turnbull Government in the wake of massive cuts to health, and a distracting and damaging plan to merge the Organ and Tissue Authority with the National Blood Authority.
While Australia has made important strides in recent years to lift our poor level of organ donation rates, it’s clear more still needs to be done.
The Turnbull Government should now put an end to its embarrassing and unwarranted attacks and get behind the Organ and Tissue Authority.
Australia needs an organisation dedicated to promoting organ donation and cannot afford to lose a stand-alone Organ and Tissue Authority devoted to this cause.