Red Cross Lifeblood has made a major change from this morning, which could allow more than 600,000 Australians - particularly those from the gay and transgender communities - to donate plasma.
00:00This is a very exciting moment for Red Cross Lifeblood because it's going to end up meaning potentially 24,000 donors they anticipate in the next 12 months.
00:14And one of the very first is Scott Davis here behind me.
00:18Scott is a member of the Melbourne Chargers Rugby Club, a gay and inclusive club.
00:23And Scott, how does it feel to be finally donating again after so many years?
00:28It feels really good, yeah.
00:30I'm really glad to be here.
00:31And so what was that like, that frustration about not being able to donate?
00:36Yeah, it felt pretty terrible to be excluded from it all.
00:39And I know the reasons why and all the rules, but I'm just glad they've changed the rules and we're back here now and able to donate again.
00:45And definitely a party pie at the end of it.
00:47Yeah, definitely.
00:48Well, if we just go across over here, because this isn't just the Scott, but it's actually about 15 of the Melbourne Chargers Rugby Club.
00:59And this is Nick Weston.
01:00Nick, you've donated before when you were in the States, but not since then.
01:04So how does it feel now?
01:05It feels wonderful to be able to do it again.
01:07You know, I started donating when I was 15 because you could do that in the States.
01:11And then I was unable to for many years.
01:14So it feels wonderful to be able to help my community again by donating blood.
01:19And this is plasma.
01:21So this is the like liquid gold.
01:23How does it make you feel to know that you're helping people like cancer patients or people with autoimmune diseases with your donation today?
01:31Really incredible.
01:31You know, we all have friends, family members who've been touched by the impact of blood donation and plasma donation.
01:39And to be able to help those in need really is an incredible feeling.
01:45Because previously, any gay or bi men or people, transgender community that had had sex in the past three months, they were automatically precluded.
01:55So it's been a long time coming, hasn't it?
01:58It has.
01:59But now that we're able to donate and be able to support our community in this way, it is really going to help change and help improve a lot of lives.
02:10And what was the call like when you saw this announcement that this was going to happen?
02:14What was it like in the rugby club and generally in the community?
02:18Pure excitement, joy.
02:19Like being able over the past couple of weeks, I've talked to, you know, dozens, hundreds of people about just how excited we are to be able to do this as a team and do this as a rugby club.
02:30And everyone is just really excited.
02:32The excitement is you can feel it in the air.
02:35It's great to see that you've got this round rotation of all the rugby players.
02:38And I think one of them was joking that, you know, you shed enough blood on the pitch.
02:42Yeah, right.
02:43Yeah, we shed enough blood on the, you know, rugby pitch.
02:46So, you know, having this go to a positive way to help someone else is incredible.
02:53Yeah, definitely better than it going on the ground.
02:56And are you, the big question is, are you looking forward to the spread at the end of it?
03:00Absolutely.
03:01I'm very food motivated.
03:02So being able to enjoy the snacks at the end is just icing on the cake.
03:07Yeah, definitely.
03:08Now, thank you so much, Nick.
03:10And great job for you and all your fellow teammates.
03:13So this is really going to potentially mean that of those 24,000 donors that Red Cross
03:19Lifeblood thinks that will come and they can welcome into their doors, that's an extra
03:2495,000 plasma donations every year.
03:27So it's certainly going to help those who really need it in the community.
