ESTA bombshell: Dan Andrews denies ex-chair’s claims he was pressured to quit

Daniel Andrews has denied his government pressured a former ESTA chair to quit his role after he pleaded for funding to prop up the organisation.

Premier Daniel Andrews has denied claims by a former ESTA chairman that the government pressured him to resign after repeated funding requests. Picture: Kiel Egging.

Daniel Andrews says claims his government pressured a former ESTA chair to quit after he made an urgent request for more money are “simply wrong”.

Former ESTA chair Roger Leeming spoke on radio on Wednesday saying he was pressured to resign in 2015 after the organisation requested more than $20m funding to prop up its dwindling cash reserves.

Mr Leeming said after the funding was secured, he received instructions for ESTA’s board to be sacked, which led to him and three other senior members resigning.

“We got the money, and an instruction to sack the board, not all the board … me and the longest serving members of the board all left,” he said on 3AW.

“I had no inkling before that there was any dissatisfaction either with ESTA or the performance of me or the board.”

With a recently released dependent report linking triple-0 and ambulance delays to 33 Victorian deaths in the 18 months to May 2022, the Premier denied Mr Leeming’s accusations when questioned by the Herald Sun during a school funding announcement in Blackburn South.“That kind of commentary is simply wrong,” he said.

“There was funding provided, funding has always been provided when ESTA needed funding, and people if they chose to resign, that’s a matter for them,” Mr Andrews said.

The government allocated $25m in the 2015-16 financial year, and $33m in 2016-17, to help ESTA respond to increased emergency response requests and reform its operating model.

A government spokesperson said it had “provided substantial funding to ESTA both before and during the pandemic to help with demand and put on extra resources when they’ve needed it”.

Mr Leeming said then-Health Minister Jane Garrett had previously indicated to him in a letter that she was “thinking about releasing me from my duties”, after he raised concerns about ESTA’s financial sustainability.

“The pressure was pretty clear they didn’t want me around, and that came immediately after we submitted a request to the expenditure review committee for in excess of $20m for that year,” he told 3AW.

“We expressed very strongly to the government the reserves were running out that year.”

The government’s spokesperson said the minister at the time “made a decision to review the structure of the committee, after which time four board members resigned.”

A review into ESTA handed down on September 4 found the government was “aware of ESTA’s precarious financial position as early as 2015” where “longstanding” issues with the funding model were raised.

The independent report also linked triple-0 and ambulance delays to 33 Victorian deaths from December 1, 2020 to May 31, 2022.

Mr Andrews also defended Ambulance Victoria’s decision to hire gender, diversity and inclusion officers as part of the organisation’s reforms, and pay them almost $100,000 more than a triple-0 calltaker.

The roles have been advertised with a salary of $169,000, while a triple-0 calltaker earns roughly $71,500 in their first year on the job.

Mr Andrews said the government was abiding by recommendations made by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission in its review of Ambulance Victoria.
“This is all about a safe inclusive and respectful workplace, where there is a big cultural change,” he said.

“If you’re going to change culture, you have to fulfil those roles and make those issues about respect and inclusion the centrepiece of the culture and make them a real priority.

“People play different roles, people are paid at different rates to do different jobs … these are the recommendations and findings and we’re getting on and delivering them.”