Caller left on hold to triple-0 amid alleged violent Nerang brawl

A Gold Coast man has been left on hold to triple-0 waiting for police as an alleged violent brawl involving a weapon unfolded in front of them. Hear the frantic call.

A Gold Coast driver has been left on hold to police triple-0 as an alleged brawl broke-out at a skate park with one person rammed by a car and another armed with a weapon.

The incident unfolded about 4.50pm on Monday at Arthur Earl Park in Nerang, where three people allegedly became involved in a verbal argument which quickly turned violent.

Nerang bust-up

In a recording of the call to emergency triple-0 the witness, who has asked not to be identified, can be heard connecting to a Telstra operator and requesting to speak with police. The phone continues ringing as the operator tries to reach officers.

“Still connecting,” the Telstra operator can be heard saying as the ringing continues.

Seconds later the situation escalates and the witness can be heard saying “I need police urgently,” to which the Telstra operator responds, “I’m just going to try the next line for you”.

The ringing continues before the witness becomes more frantic with their request for help.

“I need police urgently! Someone has got a knife,” the witness says.

“Police – urgently please!”

Nerang Bust-up 2

After about a minute and half trying to get through, a Queensland Police Service (QPS) operator answers the line and begins taking details of the incident.

Footage of the alleged brawl, obtained by the Bulletin, show one of the males armed with what appears to be a screwdriver and raising it towards a man and a woman.

In another clip, the man and woman are inside a car and appear to ram the armed man with their vehicle when he steps into its path.

A QPS spokesman said officers received a call about the disturbance at 4.53pm on Monday.

“Police arrived at 4.58pm locating a male suspect and speaking to witnesses,” the QPS spokesman said.

“A 36-year-old Nerang man has been charged with commit public nuisance Domestic violence offence.

“He is due to appear at Southport Magistrates Court on February 3.”

One of the men involved allegedly armed himself with a screwdriver. Picture: Supplied.

In the same evening text messages were sent out to police triple-0 staff asking if they could work overtime due to a number of unfilled shifts. Picture: Supplied.

The delay by police in answering the triple-0 call is the latest in an ongoing ramping crisis. Hundreds of emergency calls to the QPS are not being answered within the required 10 seconds every week. In some cases less than half of callers get help within the time set by safety guidelines.

On the same night that the Nerang caller was left on hold, a leaked text message obtained from a police triple-0 staff member reveals there were a number of unfilled shifts leaving the network short-staffed.

The issues have been plaguing the service since 2021, when the Queensland Police Union found “extensive issues” and “worrying” conditions across the triple-0 network. A staffer within one of the state’s communication centres said: “These situations make staffers feel sick. They are being bullied and pressured by our senior police managers to speed up calls and get through the backlog.”

The QPS maintains it has business processes in place to deal with unplanned increases in demand.

“When queuing occurs due to a surge in telephone calls from unplanned increased demand, additional Police Communications Centre staff are tasked to triple-0,” a QPS spokesman said.

“Calls for service are still being allocated and resourced appropriately, with business continuity plans in place to ensure emergency call staffing is forecast and meets national standards.”

Originally published as Caller left on hold to triple-0 amid alleged violent Nerang brawl