Mr PEARSON (Essendon) — It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the great work of Clinical Associate Professor Nigel Toussaint, who is a nephrologist with a special interest in chronic kidney disease and is also a resident of Moonee Ponds. Nigel works at the Royal Melbourne Hospital as a consultant nephrologist. He is also the physician in charge of clinical research in the department of nephrology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and is an all-round top bloke.

Recently Associate Professor Toussaint played an instrumental role in Australia’s largest ever paired kidney exchange, which involved six hospitals across two states. This operation occurred as a result of a decision by Paul Bannan, a maintenance fitter from regional Victoria, who decided to donate a kidney to a friend. Once this donation was not required, Mr Bannan decided to donate a kidney to a stranger who needed it. This incredibly generous gift by Mr Bannan resulted in seven kidney transplants which will clearly have a profound influence on the recipients and their families.

I have gotten to know Nigel over the last few years. I never appreciated just how critically important well-functioning kidneys are to a person’s quality of life as well as their longevity. While dialysis helps to keep a patient with chronic kidney disease alive, it cannot provide the quality of care to a patient that a functioning kidney can. Often patients on dialysis suffer from heart disease through a thickening of their artery walls.

This operation was an outstanding success, and I would like to congratulate Nigel and the team at the Royal Melbourne Hospital on achieving these tremendous outcomes for the patients but also, I think, in educating us all about the vitally important role that kidney health can play in the lives of all of us.

Finally, there are nine things we can all do to improve the health of our kidneys. They are to exercise regularly, control our weight, follow a balanced diet, quit smoking, drink only in moderation, stay hydrated — —

The ACTING SPEAKER (Ms Halfpenny) — Order! The member’s time has expired.