Thursday, 26 May 2022

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Health services

Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:00): My question is to the Attorney-General. Attorney, since January 2020 how many Victorian deaths involving ambulances not turning up on time or ESTA call failures has the coroner investigated or is the coroner currently investigating?

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:01): Ms Crozier, I would not have that figure on hand. The figure would not be that easy to extrapolate, because of the various processes that are involved when matters are referred from Ambulance Victoria to Safer Care Victoria or from ESTA through their reporting mechanisms to the inspector-general for emergency management, and both of those bodies inform the coroner’s work. So it is not really a question that has a simple answer. The coroner ultimately would determine causes of death in these matters, but it may be a collaboration, it may be a separate process or indeed, as has been past practice, the coroner may effectively endorse the work of Safer Care Victoria or the IGEM. So the numbers from 2020 are just not something I think I can provide.

Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:02): I appreciate that response in terms of the specifics and the difficulty because of Safer Care Victoria and IGEM looking at those issues, but these are not recent figures—they are for 2020, so it is two years—and certainly there have been a number of reports and referrals to the coroner. I hear that you do not know the figures currently, but I am wondering in my supplementary if you could possibly find out for the chamber since January 2020 how many Victorian deaths the coroner has investigated due to illness relating to delays on the elective surgery waiting list as well as those other issues that have been raised.

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:02): Ms Crozier, I am certainly trying to be helpful in this regard, but they are really matters for the coroner. The Attorney-General does not have any ability to direct the coroner when to conduct an investigation and when not to. Really the public comments that the coroner has made are that it is appropriate to wait for material from the appropriate agencies. It is within your rights to write to the coroner and ask for any further information if you like. They are an independent body. As I said, it is inappropriate for me to intervene in coronial processes.