Push to allow Victorians to register to donate organs on driver’s licence

A Victorian parliamentary inquiry into organ donation has urged the government to make one easy change to increase the lifesaving practice.

The state government has been urged to let Victorian motorists register to donate their organs and tissue when applying for or renewing a driver’s licence.

A parliamentary inquiry made the recommendation on Wednesday in a bid to drive up the state’s sluggish organ and tissue donor numbers.

Victoria is one of the worst-performing states when it comes to donation and transplantation rates, with just 23 per cent of Victorians currently registered to be donors — much lower than the national average of 36 per cent.

Concerningly, just 10 per cent of young Victorians aged 16 to 25 have registered a donation decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register (AODR).

South Australia, which is the only state where residents can register through their driver’s licence application, has the nation’s highest registration rate, at 73 per cent.

Victoria lags the national average when it comes to organ donation.

Committee chair and Labor MP Ella George said educating young people about the importance of donation was vital.

“We need to increase awareness so more young people register to become a donor and share their donation wishes with family, making Victorians better prepared should they ever be asked to provide consent to donation for a loved one,” Ms George said.

“It’s so important that people both register and have a conversation with their family about their donation wishes. We know that will significantly increase the likelihood that a family will consent to a donation going ahead.

“It can be incredibly confronting to be asked to consent to a loved one becoming a donor. But we learned that many families find the strength at a time of intense sadness to recognise that they can help others.”

The committee also considered living stem cell and living kidney donations, and found there is more work to promote both options.

The inquiry received almost 50 submissions, held seven days of hearings and heard from a range of experts.

SA Health Minister Chris Picton championed the driver’s licence registration system in a meeting with his fellow state and territory health ministers late last year.

His recommendation was then backed by a parliamentary committee investigating lagging donor rates in Western Australia, who agreed it had “proven successful” in SA and should be reinstated in WA.

All Australians aged 16 and above can – and are encouraged to – register via donatelife.gov.au or the Medicare App. They should then tell their family, as their loved ones will decide whether they actually donate organs and tissue.