The Australian government is now operating in accordance with the Guidance on Caretaker Conventions, pending the outcome of the 2025 federal election.
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- Story
Twenty years ago I faced a sudden unexpected crisis. I had enjoyed a very interesting and varied life during a career with the Australian Diplomatic Service, most recently as head of our Consulate-General in Noumea. I was in good health and happily married with two teenage sons. I travelled to… - Story
I had been ill since birth and treated for asthma when, at the age of 17, I suffered a stroke and was admitted to hospital for tests. The stroke turned out to be a blessing in disguise as doctors found that I was not asthmatic but had been born with a hole in the heart which had led to… - Story
When she was around 46, my mother was told that she was very ill and required a lung transplant. Over the next three years, she deteriorated substantially. Very early one morning, the hospital called advising us that a transplant was possible and she had to get to the hospital. We were elated… - Story
'We are going to the beach tomorrow, I can't wait - I'm dying for a swim ...' She died the next day whilst swimming in the sea at Glenelg, South Australia. It has been the most tragic and desperate time of my life, but through her death she gave me three gifts. My last conversation with Mum… - Story
I write this on the 12th anniversary of my kidney transplant. A day of thanks, a day when my thoughts return to my donor and donor's family and a day when I reflect on how my life has changed since I first heard the words 'you have renal failure'. I was 37, fit, well and happily married with… - Story
Tim's diagnosis with terminal cancer three years ago did not alter his decision to be an organ donor. He used this decision as a way of dealing with his cancer, by way of focusing on others, rather than himself. Unfortunately a year before Tim passed away from cancer he learnt that his… - Story
My wife and I have witnessed both sides of the donation and transplantation equation. We became a donor family when our youngest son David died at the age of 20 and became an organ donor, and then later I was to become a recipient following my own lung transplant. Many years ago we were… - Story
We have known for 20 odd years that Tony, my husband, has Polycystic Kidney Disease. Three years ago, our lives were turned upside down. Acute kidney failure knocked Tony into hospital and so began our journey. He endured several surgeries to prepare for dialysis, which started nine months… - Story
Our son Troy, aged 33, contracted streptococcal meningitis through a simple earache. Within 48 hours we were informed that Troy was brain dead. The decision to donate his organs was made easier for us as we knew that Troy was a passionate organ donor who thought it would be a great idea for… - Story
I was badly burned during an ultra-marathon in 2011. After we were rescued I was put in an induced coma and airlifted to Darwin. It was there that doctors performed an eschartomy - on me - slicing me from my feet to my thighs and from my hands to my shoulders. After Darwin, I was flown to…