SENATOR DEAN SMITH
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY
SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA
MEDIA RELEASE
21 August 2024
SENATE PASSES BILL TO COMBAT ORGAN TRAFFICKING AND HARVESTING – WITHOUT GOVERNMENT’S SUPPORT
The Senate has passed the Migration Amendment (Overseas Organ Transplant Disclosure and Other Measures) Bill 2023, marking a significant step forward in Australia’s efforts to curtail the international crime of organ trafficking and harvesting.
The bill was first introduced to the Senate in June 2023 with the aim of implementing some of the recommendations from the 2018 report of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade ‘Compassion, not Commerce’ inquiry organ trafficking and harvesting.
The report included a recommendation to “monitor the transplantation practices of other countries with regard to consistency with human rights obligations, including with regard to the use of the organs of executed prisoners”.
This bill amends the Migration Act 1958 requiring travellers into Australia to disclose on the incoming passenger card whether they have received an organ transplant overseas in the last five years.
If they respond affirmatively, persons arriving into Australia will be asked to disclose which country, state, locality they received the transplant, and the name of the medical facility the operation took place in.
This data will be collected and published in an annual report tabled in Parliament.
The information will be of great assistance to human rights organisations, medical institutions, and the Australian Government in analysing data on trends in overseas transplants, and helping to corroborate existing evidence of organ trafficking or harvesting activities abroad.
It will also serve to raise awareness of the sensitivity and risks associated with transplant tourism, encouraging Australian citizens and residents to consider whether any plans to receive an overseas operation might carry the risks associated with an unethical or unsafe organ transplant.
The bill compliments similar initiatives being considered in the United Kingdom and Canadian Parliaments, bringing Australia in line with international efforts.
Disappointingly, the Labor Government opposed the Bill in the Senate.
Despite this, the bill passed the Senate with the support of crossbench Senators and without a division.
Labor’s human rights record was diminished by their decision not to support this bill.
Comments attributable to Senator Dean Smith:
“This is the most significant step made in decades in emboldening Australia’s efforts to combat the growing trade in illegal and unethical organ harvesting and trafficking.”
“This is an overdue and crucial first step in developing a stronger response from the Australian Government towards these abhorrent practices.
“This simple and modest initiative will have an oversized impact in uncovering the scope of this complex and opaque international crime.”
“Many Australians will be surprised and confused to hear that the Labor Government was a bystander to this improvement in our human rights arsenal.”
ENDS