(Minghui.org) The Australian Senate passed a new bill on August 21, 2024, that aims to fight illegal organ trafficking and forced organ harvesting from living people.

Parliament House in Canberra, Australia

The Migration Amendment (Overseas Organ Transplant Disclosure and Other Measures) Bill 2023 was first introduced by Liberal Senator Dean Smith in June 2023. It was submitted to Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Legislation Committee for review in November. The Senate held a public hearing on the Amendment on March 22, 2024.

After the debates on August 15 and 21, the bill was passed after gaining support from Liberal, National, Green, and independent senators.

In the process of the bill being passed, the story of Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Cheng Peiming was widely reported by major media outlets in England, the U.S., and Australia. Mr. Cheng is the first victim found to have survived the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) systematic live organ harvesting. Last month he went to Washington D.C. to give a speech and recount his experience of what happened to him in China.

Senator Smith: Most Significant Step

The bill amends Australia’s Migration Act 1958 with an aim to implement some of the recommendations from the Human Rights Sub-Committee’s 2018 report “Compassion, not Commerce: An Inquiry into Human Organ Trafficking and Organ Transplant Tourism.”

The bill requires all travelers to Australia to disclose on the incoming passenger card whether they received an organ transplant overseas in the last five years. If the response is affirmative, persons arriving in Australia will be asked to disclose which country, state, and the 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 and given to the Parliament.

Liberal Senator for Western Australia Dean Smith spoke at the debate on the Amendment on August 21. (Photo courtesy Australia Senate website)

Bill sponsor Senator Dean Smith stated in a media release on August 21, 2024: “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.”

According to the media release, “The bill passed the Senate with the support of crossbench Senators and without a division.”

Senator Smith said, “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.”

The bill will now move to the House of Representatives for further debate.

Falun Dafa Association: Australia Parliament Targets CCP’s Crimes

Dr. Lucy Zhao, President of Falun Dafa Association in Australia, welcomed the new bill. She said the passing of the bill carries a special and important message, as this is the first legislative action taken by the Australia Parliament to curb illegal organ harvesting. During the debate, the senators brought the attention of live organ harvesting and the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong and prisoners of conscience to the Congressional level.

Many countries passed similar bills, and Dr. Zhao hopes that the Australian government can go one step further and pass bills to punish offenders of illegal organ transplants, similar to what the U.K. and Canada have passed.

Cross-Party Senators Support New Bill at Debate

During the debate on August 15, Senator Smith said that the legislative bodies of many countries including Canada and the United Kingdom have taken steps and passed relevant bills and policies. Australia is absent in this regard, and this bill seeks to advance Australia’s mission to uphold and enhance human rights, both in Australia and around the world.

When speaking about the background of the Amendment, Smith said, “... for a long time, people were disbelieving that this was actually happening in our world. I’m pleased to say, unfortunately, that I think there is less disbelief now and more realisation that this is happening on a scale that people would be horrified to know, horrified to comprehend.”

                              
Senator Claire Chandler addressed the debate on the Amendment on August 15. (Photo courtesy Australia Senate website)

Senator Claire Chandler said in her debate on August 15, “This is some of the most disturbing human rights violations that exist and evidence suggests that occurrences of this have been increasing around the world, which is a terrifying thought.”

Senator Chandler quoted WHO’s estimation in 2008, saying that 5% of worldwide organ transplants are undertaken illegally. She said, “... there are significant concerns about organ harvesting in relation to the Uyghur population and the Falun Gong...”

She said that this percentage reveals the severity of illegal organ trade, which is a heinous crime and a serious violation of global human rights. “Australia should be doing all that we can to combat this incredibly dark criminal activity.”

Senator David Shoebridge spoke at the debate on the Amendment on August 21. (Photo courtesy Australia Senate website)

Green Party Senator David Shoebridge supported passing the bill, and said on August 21 that this legislation allows Australia to keep up with the international effort. He stated, “This bill takes us one step further towards being a good global citizen,” “We think it’s an act of global decency. We think it’s the kind of action that Australia should take.”

Australia Cannot Stay Silent

Senator Paul Scarr spoke at the debate on the Amendment on August 15. (Photo courtesy Australia Senate website)

Liberal National Senator Paul Scarr, when speaking at the debate, quoted the press release from the UN Special Reporters in June 2016. The press release states that Falun Gong practitioners, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims and Christians in detention in China may be forcibly subjected to blood tests and organ examinations without their informed consent, and the results of the examinations are registered in a database of living organ sources that facilitates organ allocation.

“I note that the United Kingdom amended the Human Tissue Act in the UK to deal with this issue. Also, there have been steps in Canada to amend the Criminal Code in relation to this matter. So we need to be in step with our international partners.

“We cannot stay silent on these issues. We have a moral obligation to raise them, and I do so in good faith here today.”

National Party Senator Ross Cadell spoke at the debate on the Amendment on August 15. (Photo courtesy Australia Senate website)

National Party Senator Ross Cadell said in the debate on August 15 that the bill may not ensure 100% compliance with filling out the card, but it will start building an information bank that can help Australia identify potential illegal organ trades in the future. He said, “... if I, for the first time, go overseas and I get an organ donation and I do it the wrong way, I come back to Australia, I’m committing no crime in Australia.” Somewhere in the world, however, “... someone has suffered to give me that, maybe without their consent, maybe because they are so economically hard off that they have had to do this. The cost to the Australian taxpayer, minimal, new cards and a bit of data processing, The potential benefit to those that have the least power in this world is magnificent.”

Senator James McGrath spoke at the debate on the Amendment on August 15. (Photo courtesy Australia Senate website)

Liberal National Senator James McGrath paid special tribute to Falun Gong practitioners listening in the debate on August 15. “I would also acknowledge those who are in the gallery who are witnessing and observing the debate that is in this chamber concerning this particular bill,” he said.

Senator McGrath quoted the UN’s 2021 report stating that the UN has effective evidence of trafficking of human organs. He said, “That is outrageous. That should make everybody in this chamber very angry. It should make everybody listening, whether in this chamber or in the galleries of this chamber or through the closed circuit televisions that operate through this building, that there is a country in this world that effectively commercialises the forced trafficking of organs, and that is why this bill is so timely.”

At the end of his speech, he said, “What this bill does will make sure that we will do more and we should do more. No human, whether they are Falun Gong, Uyghur, Tibetan, Christian, Muslim, or Chinese, who are in communist China, who may be in detention, should be put into a sub-human system of where they are treated as commercial products to be harvested as someone would pick or pull a carrot from the ground or an apple from a tree. We are talking about humans here.”