Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority

Ms KEALY (Lowan) (14:31): My question is to the Minister for Ambulance Services. Despite multiple warnings about Victoria’s ambulance dispatch not being able to meet demand, including reports by the State Coroner and the inspector-general for emergency management following the 2016 thunderstorm asthma event that left 10 Victorians dead, why after years of warnings has the government failed to prepare Victoria’s ambulance dispatch properly?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:32): Can I thank the member for Lowan for her question. I think she has got history a little bit skew-whiff there, and so I would challenge the premise of her question. Yes, in 2014 when the Auditor-General released an initial report on this, our ambulance service was in crisis. Our ambulance service was under deep cuts, deep impacts of those cuts. And then in the subsequent years there was a substantial series of engagements, of work-value arrangements that saw record pay increases to our ambulance service, record reallocations of the complex interchange between emergency departments, investments in ratios and making sure that that end of the ecology was being dealt with, and support through ESTA and the call dispatch areas to the point where, based on a variety of reports, in 2019 these services reached their highest level of performance in their history.

Ms Kealy: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the minister is going through a lot of initiatives that have taken place over the eight years that this Labor government has been in place, but he has failed to address that there are a number of people who are dying while waiting for ESTA calls to be answered. That goes to why the government hasn’t prepared. Why are people still waiting on the phone after they have called 000 and they have yet to get someone just to answer it and dispatch an ambulance?

The SPEAKER: Order! I understand the point of order. I thank the member for the point of order. The minister is being relevant to the question that was asked, which was a broad question.

Mr FOLEY: Thank you, Speaker. And then a global pandemic hit the entire globe and we saw record levels of demand, to the point where in the last quarter of last year we saw a 16.2 per cent increase in ambulance calls—91 397 code 1 calls, by a mile the busiest period that Ambulance Victoria and by extension ESTA had ever had in their history. At the same time, they were also being laid low by record levels of infections amongst their workforce. They were also seeing record levels of furloughing of staff. At the same time Ambulance Victoria were having to go through extraordinary infection prevention and control measures at the end and the start of every visit, of every call-out, in level 3 PPE. This is an extraordinary set of circumstances that a global pandemic has put in place.

I want to take this opportunity to thank those ESTA employees, those paramedics and the entire workforce for getting us through that busiest period in the history of these services. They are our true champions. In regard to the genuine issues about the tragedies of lives that have been lost, I again reiterate that the government apologises for the pain of the families of those who have lost loved ones. We will not leave any stone unturned until we return to those higher levels of performance.

Ms KEALY (Lowan) (14:35): A number of times today the minister has said the government knew there would be an increase in demand over the COVID pandemic. Why then were ESTA staff numbers cut rather than increased during that period, which meant that people were left hanging on the phone waiting for somebody to answer their urgent calls?

Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (14:36): Can I thank the member for Lowan for her question. The member for Lowan is simply wrong in her assertions. There have not been cuts to the ESTA services. We know which side of this chamber cuts emergency services. We know which side of politics in this state slashes critical services. I use this opportunity to again reiterate the measures that were announced yesterday by the honourable Minister for Emergency Services—$115 million that will see over 100 new call takers—in addition to the significant investment already made.

Ms Kealy: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance: the minister has questioned the validity and the authenticity of the numbers that were put forward. I have a document which I would like to make available to the house that clearly shows the number of staff at ESTA has been cut significantly by this government—

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Lowan, this is not a point of order. It may be a very valid point of debate but it is not a point of order.

Mr FOLEY: Can I take this opportunity to thank the Minister for Emergency Services for her outstanding leadership. This side of the Parliament will back her in every effort to return our services to the level that we had them—this side of the government had them.