Australian organ donation rates still lag behind most other developed countries and this is a sign that the Government’s $151 million investment hasn’t delivered what the Government promised, said Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare, Andrew Southcott.

“While any increase in the rate of organ donation in Australia is welcome news, the fact remains that Australia’s donation rate is still less than half that of the leading countries like Spain”

“There ar... e only 14.9 organ donors each year for every million people living in Australia, whilst in Spain that rate is more than 35 per million”

The Australian Organ Donation Authority was set up in 2009 under the Rudd Government’s $151 million reform “A World's Best Practice Approach to Organ and Tissue Donation for Transplantation” but has had somewhat of a lethargic start at meeting its self-imposed targets.

Parliamentary Secretary Catherine King yesterday suggested that the lower than expected organ donation rates were caused by families’ lack of awareness of their loved ones wishes, rather than taking responsibility for another under-performing government authority.

“While it is true that the most common reason cited by families when declining to donate a relative’s organs is that they did not know what their wishes were, addressing this was meant to be a focus for the Authority”

The Australian Organ Donation Authority was originally committed to ensuring 85 per cent of families knew their family member’s wishes about donation by July 2011, but failed to reach that target with only 57 per cent actually aware.

Likewise, the latest figures show that the number of organ donors in Australia only increased by 28 between the 2010 and 2011 calendar years.

 “At some point the Parliamentary Secretary needs to admit that the Australian Organ Donation Authority isn’t living up to the expectations that were set when then Prime Minister Rudd first announced its establishment” 

“The Coalition has always been in favour of improving Australia’s organ donation rates, but we need to ensure that this is done in the most efficient, and effective way possible.”