Emergency communication services
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:17): (416) My question is also to the Minister for Emergency Services. Minister, given that last Tuesday was the first catastrophic fire danger day to be declared since the 2019–20 Black Summer fires, why were there not enough call takers in Triple Zero to deal with the emergency situation?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:17): Ms Crozier, there were – there certainly were. Reports to the contrary are simply inaccurate. Triple Zero Victoria have contingencies in place. They have modelling in place. They were well prepared for the extreme weather forecast, and they rostered on additional staff as is appropriate. From 7 am Tuesday to 7 am Wednesday they had in excess of 200 operational staff, including 50 that were dedicated to the non-emergency VICSES 132 500 line. In this time Triple Zero Victoria received 15,455 calls across all of its service lines. For police it was a record day in their history. They had robust measures in place; any claims that they were not adequately resourced are simply inaccurate. I have been correcting those reports, and I am happy to continue to do so today.
I would welcome a genuine conversation about Triple Zero’s preparedness for the extreme weather forecast last week, but it has to be based on facts, and the facts that you presented in your question – despite the fact that you may have read those reports – I can confirm were wrong and were false. I am more than happy to back our call takers and back Triple Zero Victoria, who did an amazing job on Tuesday, as they do every day.
Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:19): Minister, did any of the delays in getting through to Triple Zero result in critical information not being conveyed or delays in the information being passed on to firefighters?
Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:19): Ms Crozier, as I indicated in my answer to your substantive question, on the day there were additional resources. There were an amazing amount of calls, and they managed to deal with those calls. When somebody calls through and the information is relayed, they are the front line of the front line, and that information is then passed on to the relevant emergency services. If you have a specific incident that you want to take up with me, I am more than happy to look at it, but again I reiterate: on Tuesday record calls were responded to by the hardworking call takers and dispatchers. Their job is to pass information on; they take the calls. That is their job, and I reiterate my support for an amazing organisation that did a fantastic job on the day.