If you want to make a splash in a crowded marketplace of media saturation, do it live on air.
If you want to make a fucking cannonball, be Kochie and quit as chairman of the Organ Donation Advisory live on Sunrise to an audience of 330,000 people.
It was the morning television equivalent of an epic table flip. Yesterday Kochie quit as chairman of the Federal Government’s advisory on organ donation, which Sunrise was instrumental in setting up in 2009.
He did so after criticising two programs on his own network – basically unheard of in Australian television – on how they reported the facts on organ donation, as well as firing shots at Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash for ordering an “expensive” and “unnecessary” review into the national organ donation system.
“It’s an absolute disgrace,” he said. “Fiona Nash, get a backbone. You didn’t even ring me as chairman of your advisory council to get my view or tell me an enquiry was coming.”
You can watch the whole thing here:
On Tuesday night, both Seven News and Today Tonight ran segments on organ donation, informing viewers that despite a spend of $250 million into the organ donation program, Australia was “just” 19th in the world.
Kochie claims they severely misrepresented the facts, leading the audience to believe that being 19th in the world was a failure. “Since the organ and tissue authority launched in 2009, donation rank has risen from 32 to 19, and grown 41%,” he said. “That’s the same increase in reforms as world leaders such as Spain and the UK, they’ve just been doing it longer.”
He was also furious that the money was deemed to be “not well spent”, pointing out that a) the $250 million was spent over six years, b) the kidney donation system alone saved the hospital systems $25 million a year, and c) when you factored in heart, lung, and liver donations, it actually saved more money than the government spent.
“The most disappointing thing for me is that the politician in charge of donations, her, Fiona Nash, has not supported the authority’s program and caved in to this rich lobby group and started yet another expensive enquiry into it,” he said.
“Obviously I’ve got no choice but to resign from the position and actively counter the tripe dished out by a whole bunch of rich lobbyists that just talk and do nothing.”
~However, things may not be as they seem.~
New reports are coming to light that Kochie did know about the review. A spokesman for Nash says he got the news a full week earlier on May 20, albeit without knowing the terms or being allowed to speak about it.
And if the Department of Health is pissed at Kochie, they’re not letting on. “I hope we can keep Kochie in the role of advocate that he’s had for so long,” said Health Minister Sussan Ley, while calling him “a good guy and a valuable person”.
Members of the “rich lobby group”, as Kochie called it in his rant, have also spoken out. ShareLife board member Bruce Pussell pointed out that all but one of them worked pro bono, and that their only goal was to improve organ donation.
“I just think it’s very sad that he has chosen to attack the people rather than sticking to the facts,” he said.
Kochie has yet to respond, although let’s be honest, there’ll probably be something on Sunrise tomorrow.
A few hours after Kochie’s rant aired, Sunrise sent out a follow up video that will break your heart, unless you happen to not have one, in which case supported an organ donation system sounds like a solid plan.
(Yes, we know it looks like we posted the same video twice, but trust us – they’re different.)
About 1,500 people in Australia are on organ donation waiting lists at any given time. Less than 1% of people die in hospital in the specific circumstances needed in order to become an organ donor.
If you want to find out more about organ donation in Australia, head here.
