Tuesday, 15 August 2023

Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority

Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:37): (231) My question is for the Minister for Emergency Services. Minister, all Victorians would be familiar with the massive failures with the ESTA, Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority, CAD, computer-assisted dispatch, system in recent years, which tragically resulted in the deaths of at least 30 Victorians. At the recent PAEC – that is, the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee – hearings Emergency Management Victoria informed the committee that there was no clear time line for the implementation of the new dispatch system. Minister, have you finally worked out when there will be a new CAD system to protect all Victorians?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:38): Mrs Hermans, if it was not for the politicisation and attack on the staff at ESTA, I would be able to give you a really straight answer to that, but I am going to provide some commentary in relation to –

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President, there is absolutely no attack on the staff in ESTA. This is about government failure, government decisions, government policymaking and the failures of the Andrews government, so I would ask the minister to stop making political points that are not true.

The PRESIDENT: I think there have been rulings by previous Presiding Officers that the preamble forms part of the question, so I think the minister was responding to a preamble. She is only 12 seconds into the response, so I will call the minister.

Jaclyn SYMES: It has become a bit of a feature of today’s question time for the opposition to make statements and claim that they are true when they are not. To claim that a failure of a CAD system –

Members interjecting.

Jaclyn SYMES: Have you read the IGEM report? Your contention was that the failures of a CAD system contributed to deaths. You are not in a position to make that claim, and no-one actually has made that claim outside of this chamber. Your question trying to link a computer system to some tragic outcomes is what I am saying is inappropriate. Your question about the status of the replacement CAD system is a genuine question, but to make disparaging comments about an organisation – to make false accusations the way you have – is not the way you should ask questions in this place, because it is a false statement that you made.

Ann-Marie Hermans: My point of order, President, is simply that there were lives that were lost as a result of this government and as a result of what they did in terms of not actually having ambulances arrive on time. That is a fact. It is not –

The PRESIDENT: That is not a point of order.

Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:40): All right. Let us just move to the second question. I thank the minister. Given the budget papers did not include any amount for the cost of this new system, when will Victorians know what this new system will cost?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:40): It is actually responsible government to try and get the best value for projects, the best value for the money that you spend, so we did not disclose the amount that has been allocated to a tender process, because that tender process is open and you kind of do not want to telegraph what the bids should be. So we are in the processes of identifying the best of the best to identify who can deliver a state-of-the-art CAD facility that is going to service Victorians –

Ann-Marie Hermans: On a point of order, President, the question is very simple. The question is when – not what is happening, but when will Victorians know?

The PRESIDENT: The minister is being relevant to the question, and she has got 34 seconds.

Jaclyn SYMES: The procurement process is progressing very well. I received an update from the CEO in the last fortnight about the fact that they are very pleased with the approaches that they are getting from really high-quality providers. Once those contracts have been signed I will be more than happy to provide all of those details, including the costings.