Pledge to improve organ donation
The Federal Government says it will make it easier to register online as an organ donor.
Currently, about 33 per cent of Australians are registered to donate, although many more say there are willing but have not got around to registering.
Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt has kicked off DonateLife Week by announcing moves to ease the registration process.
“Once you've filled in all that detail, you just press send and you become registered as an organ donor, but the important thing is that you have to talk with your family to let them know what your desires and wishes are in respect to your organs,” he said.
“We've found nine out of 10 wishes are complied with where people have talked with their family.
“The rate is far worse when there's no discussion because the family don't know and in a time of grief, because they don't know their loved one's wishes they tend to err on the side of saying no.”
Mr Wyatt said there would be a focus on lifting the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander donation registration, where the family consent rate is about 50 per cent lower than the national average.
“When we had a call for people to come and have their bone marrow tested to help a little Noongar boy several years ago, people came from everywhere to have their marrow checked to see if they could be a successful donor,” he said.
“So within our community, people do it when they're called upon.
“I would call upon them to give serious consideration to becoming an organ donor.”
Currently, anyone can register by visiting the DonateLife site.