Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority
Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (12:28): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Minister, I refer to the failure of the ESTA 000 call system to dispatch an ambulance to Stewart Grant on 29 January. Mr Grant’s wife waited 40 minutes for an ambulance and hauntingly had to say to her husband just before he died, ‘I’m sorry, they’re not coming’. Minister, this awful tragedy occurred on your watch. Do you accept full responsibility for this completely and utterly unacceptable tragedy?
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:29): Mr Davis, I really cannot believe that you do this: that you use victims in a political way when you clearly have not spoken to them. You do not know the facts of this case, and in fact some of the issues that you have raised are just completely inappropriate. The fact that I continue to have to explain the Liberal Party attributing someone’s death to something for their political purposes when it has not gone through a proper process is absolutely outrageous.
But I will respond in that of course my condolences go to Mr Grant’s family. The loss of a loved one is incredibly traumatic, and I join ESTA in offering our sincere condolences to that family at this extremely difficult time. I will not contribute to that trauma by adding additional commentary to that case. It is inaccurate and inappropriate to attribute cause of death in the way you have. Only the coroner can properly determine this.
I can say that ESTA has reviewed this matter with inspector-general for emergency management (IGEM) oversight and determined that ESTA staff did everything expected of them. ESTA and Ambulance Victoria work together every day to review and investigate their performance to ensure that patient safety is paramount. We will continue to back ESTA and our health workers with the additional support and resources they need. Just recently I allocated $27 million to ESTA, and I continue to speak with acting CEO Stephen Leane on an almost daily basis. This is something we are focused on. We are talking regularly, we are providing the resources required and those hardworking staff at ESTA deserve our support and admiration.
Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (12:31): That is a bit rich. But leaving that aside, in a letter to Mr Grant’s family Ambulance Victoria has admitted the organisation did not meet expectations on this occasion. The Ambulance Victoria letter said:
… regarding your father’s condition, the call was coded for a response within 30 minutes.
Minister, I have warned you in this chamber about the risks of excessive and flawed triage, and I therefore ask: do you accept that in this case the flawed triage and failure to immediately dispatch an ambulance may have resulted in Mr Grant’s untimely and tragic death?
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:32): I will not repeat my comments. I think it is shameful the way you are seeking to politicise people’s families when I provided you with the information. I will not provide additional commentary in relation to this case. However, as I have repeated, ESTA and IGEM reviewed this matter, and ESTA did everything that was required of them in relation to that case. I will not provide additional commentary in relation to this matter and try to add additional trauma to this family, as will be the result of you trying to politicise the family’s tragedy. Trying to attribute any blame is not a role for you, Mr Davis; it is a matter for the coroner.