Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority
Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (11:59): My question is again for the Minister for Emergency Services. I refer to the Ashton report released on Thursday, just before the federal election, and I ask: in compiling this report, how many families whose loved ones had died as a result, in whole or in part, of the incompetence or failure of ESTA did Mr Ashton meet with?
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:00): Mr Davis, I am not sure if you have read the Ashton report, because if you had you would know that it goes to the service and capability of the organisation. It is about structural reform. It is about MOG changes. It is about rebranding. It is about procurement. It is about intelligence. It is about the culture of the organisation. Mr Ashton was engaged just prior to me becoming minister and spoke to a lot of people in relation to call taking and dispatch, spoke to the industrial partners, spoke to the emergency organisations. His job, if you read the terms of reference—I think it is on page 5 of the report; I would draw your attention to that—was not to sit down and talk to every individual who had experienced a poor outcome that may have had a connection to call taking or dispatch and the like. That is a matter for the IGEM, and I am just not quite sure how I can more clearly continue to articulate this. We have established practices for when there is an issue that needs to be reviewed. That is the inspector-general for emergency management—that is what he does—and then he may inform the coroner in relation to any incidents that involve death. Mr Ashton was engaged to look at the organisation’s structure, how it operates within government and how it interacts with its emergency service partners, and that is what his report did. So in relation to your question, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of people’s roles here, and I am trying to make it clear to you. Please read the report, and you will realise that your question is not appropriate.
Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (12:01): What is clear here is that Mr Ashton did not talk to those who have suffered, those whose loved ones have died, those who have suffered as a result of the incompetence of the organisation, and the minister wants to excuse him. He could well have met, with those terms of reference, with such people who have been terribly impacted. I ask the minister: given Mr Ashton appears not to have met with ESTA’s most important stakeholders, will you meet with a group of families who have lost loved ones yourself?
Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:02): Mr Davis, I will remind you that there are appropriate review mechanisms and reporting mechanisms for people that look at these issues. But to be very clear, I speak to families all the time. I spoke to families last week before the release of the Ashton report to let them know. I spoke to people about the budget outcome and listened to their stories. It is one of the motivating factors for me to pay full attention to this issue and work with Stephen Leane and the team out at ESTA to make sure that we are getting on top of call delays. I note your disappointment when I come in here and say, ‘We are on track. We are getting better and better at call taking even though the call demand is not decreasing’. The new normal is that we are a third more to double more than what we used to be pre pandemic levels, when we were meeting benchmarks, and this team is on track to start meeting those benchmarks very soon as we roll more and more call takers out each and every day, and I am focused on that outcome.
Mr DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan—Leader of the Opposition) (12:03): I move:
That the minister’s answer be taken into account on the next day of meeting.
Motion agreed to.