Wednesday, 15 October 2025

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:13): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. How many Victorians were placed at risk because of missed or delayed emergency calls or dispatch delays of crucial ambulance, police or fire services because of last night’s 000 failure?

 Vicki WARD (Eltham – Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Natural Disaster Recovery, Minister for Equality) (14:13): I thank the member for his question. I think it is really important in the first instance for us to recognise the incredible work of our call takers and our dispatchers at Triple Zero. These are very skilled, highly trained people who are always working incredibly hard to support Victorians, sometimes on the worst day of a person’s life. Their professionalism saves lives, and it was clearly on display in their management of last night’s unplanned outage. This matter is being thoroughly investigated, but I have been advised that calls continued to be taken at all times. I have not been advised of any unanswered calls or adverse outcomes at this stage. The usual backup measures were quickly enacted to ensure ongoing support to the community until the CAD resumed normal operations. I reiterate these are highly trained professionals who work incredibly hard in situations where they need to be there at their calmest, and they always are. These are extraordinary people, and they deserve our praise and our thanks and our support for the work they do.

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, on the question of relevance, the minister did address the question of calls but did not address the question of delays to dispatch. I ask you to bring her back to that.

The SPEAKER: The minister has concluded her answer.

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:15): A report by the inspector-general for emergency management found that 33 Victorians, including children, have died due to 000 delays. In June the minister told PAEC that the government has spent close to half a billion dollars on 000 in the past few years. Why is the system still experiencing outages like the one that occurred overnight, placing the safety of Victorians at risk?

 Vicki WARD (Eltham – Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Natural Disaster Recovery, Minister for Equality) (14:16): I thank the member for his question. As advised in my substantive answer, this is being investigated.