Questions without notice and ministers statements
Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority
Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:01): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Minister, I refer to the case of David Edwards, a constituent of yours who resides in Swan Hill, who along with other members of his family tried repeatedly to contact 000 seeking medical assistance for his critically ill father. 000 did not answer, and Mr Edwards’s father tragically died. Minister, why have you not called your constituent Mr Edwards to apologise for the failures at 000, an agency for which you are personally responsible?
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:01): I thank Ms Crozier for her question. At the outset, my condolences to the Edwards family on the loss of their husband and father. This is a case that was brought to my attention initially by the federal member. She wrote a particularly detailed letter making some claims that in fact were not true. I responded to her and explained from the perspective of ESTA that this was a case where on the face of it the call to 000 was not picked up, so the Telstra element of the call taking was not picked up. But this is a matter that I responded to Anne Webster about. The interim CEO, Stephen Leane, has spoke to the Edwards family about this, and we are very keen to work with Telstra and understand what happened in this case.
But again this is, I guess, an example where I am reluctant to give a cause, but it does appear that it was the initial connection to 000, not the connection from 000 to ESTA. But again I would never blame or attribute a cause of death to anything, because it is not my role. That is a matter for the coroner, and this is a case where someone has lost their life. I do not think me getting in a tit for tat on whether it is a federal issue or a state issue is particularly helpful to the grieving family. But I can assure you that Mr Leane has spoken directly with the Edwards family. I have communicated to the federal member, who wrote to me on behalf of her constituents, and provided the information, and she was to take that back to her constituents, back in—I think I wrote that letter in—January or February. I spent a lot of time on that letter, because I wanted to be really careful about the messages that we were sending back, acknowledging the hurt that that family would be experiencing.
Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:03): Minister, thank you for your response. I also received a letter from the federal member. Actually the dates in her letter were incorrect, so the actual incident happened on a different date. The date was 5 January, not 4 January, as was in that letter. I am not sure that you are aware, so no wonder Telstra did not have a record of the calls that went through. My supplementary question, Minister, is: through ESTA Mr Edwards has tried to get answers as to his father’s tragic case, and I go back to the point I have just made. Because there has been so much confusion, I do not know that there has been a thorough investigation in this case because of the dates that were wrong, and clearly your office have not spoken to Mr Edwards either, which I find incredible. Minister, is it good enough that your constituent Mr Edwards was told by ESTA to pay $30 to access the information under FOI?
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:04): Ms Crozier, I would be more than happy to continue to ensure that more information goes to Mr Edwards. I am happy to speak to Mr Edwards. Basically what I have agreed with the management at ESTA is that I am happy to speak to anybody that would like to speak to me. Indeed I have spoken to families. It is a case that has facts that are unclear. We have been, through ESTA, through Telstra and through the federal minister, where I have asked for information that has not been forthcoming via the local member—and this is an issue that we want—
Members interjecting.
Ms SYMES: I was not aware of any suggestion around— (Time expired)