DATA - Donation and Transplant Advocacy

12/03/2026

For eight years Australia has seen declining family consent rates for organ and tissue donation.

Behind every statistic is a family sitting in an ICU making the most difficult decision of their lives — and another family desperately waiting for the call that could save their loved one.
When consent rates fall, the consequences are real:
❤️ Fewer lives saved through organ transplantation
🕯 More families left grieving without the chance to give the gift of life
Australia has some of the most skilled transplant clinicians in the world, and thousands of Australians support organ donation. Yet our national consent rate has been trending in the wrong direction.
After nearly a decade of decline, it is time for new leadership at the Australian Organ and Tissue Authority and a renewed national strategy to rebuild family consent, restore community trust, and save more lives.
We owe it to:
• the patients waiting for transplants
• the donor families who say yes in the hardest moment imaginable
• the clinicians working tirelessly to save lives
Australia can do better.
The gift of life depends on it.

07/03/2026

“Put organ donor registration on driver’s licences,” they’re told.
“It will increase donation.”

Millions of dollars later — new systems, database integration, administrative change across licensing authorities.

The result?
No meaningful increase in family consent.
And family consent is what actually determines whether organ donation proceeds.

This is the uncomfortable reality often missing from the debate.

Australia already has a national organ donor register.
Adding registration to driver’s licences may create a new administrative entry, but it does not change the moment that determines whether donation happens.

That moment occurs in a hospital.
With a family.

If families don’t know their loved one’s wishes, donation frequently does not proceed — regardless of what appears on a licence or register.
The evidence is already there:
• South Australia – very high licence registration, consent around 53%
• Victoria – lower registration, higher consent
• Tasmania – highest consent rates in Australia (around 76%) without licence registration as the centrepiece
The strongest predictor of organ donation is not registration.
It is conversation.
If Australia lifted national consent rates to around 60–64%, modelling suggests we could deliver 200–300 additional life-saving transplants every year.
That’s where the real policy focus should be.
Not another database.
Not another box to tick.
A conversation at home.
Because a database doesn’t save lives.
Families do.






Zaidee's Rainbow Foundation Dr. Gordon Reid MP Adam Crouch MP Senator Anne Ruston Change the Australian Organ Donation System NSW Organ & Tissue Donation Service Volunteers Mark Butler MP David Mehan MP Senator Tammy Tyrrell DATA - Donation and Transplant Advocacy Rebecca White

05/01/2026

🌱 Introducing The Gift of Life Series – Conversations That Matter 🌱

Some conversations are ones we hope families will never have to remember —
and ones we pray they will never need to have at all.
And yet, for many families, those conversations come quietly… unexpectedly… and with no guide for the right words.
The Gift of Life Series was created for those moments.
It’s a gentle collection of illustrated stories designed to help people talk with their children and loved ones about illness, transplantation, gratitude, and the extraordinary gift of life — with care, honesty, and compassion.
These stories are not clinical.
They are not instructional.
They don’t tell families what to think or feel.

They are simply a way to:
🤍 open a conversation that feels impossible
🤍 offer comfort when words are hard to find
🤍 help children understand big moments in gentle ways
🤍 honour donor families with respect and gratitude
The series is intended to be freely available to families, support groups, and communities who want a resource that meets them where they are — whether in hope, uncertainty, recovery, or remembrance.

If these stories help even one family feel less alone, then they have done what they were created to do.
With gratitude to the donor families who make life possible, and with deep respect for every family walking this path 💚
🌱 The Gift of Life Series – Conversations That Matter

The Gift of Life Series – Conversations That Matter Gentle children’s stories supporting family conversations about health, care, courage, and organ and tissue donation Series Summary The Gift of Life Series – Conversations That Matter is a thoughtfully written collection of children’s books...

06/09/2025

I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who got behind JERSEY DAY 💛💙

In my opinion, this completely self-funded campaign has done more to raise real awareness about the importance of families having the conversation about organ and tissue donation than the official DonateLife or the Australian Organ and Tissue Authority ever have.
Seeing so many people wear their jerseys, spark conversations, and share the message really gives me hope. It shows how a simple idea, driven by community spirit, can make a huge difference.

For me, as someone whose life was saved through the gift of organ donation, this is personal. Knowing more families are talking about it means more lives will be saved in the future.

Thank you for being part of it 🙏