Victoria seeks to tackle triple-zero delays with agency overhaul

Victoria’s emergency triple-zero hotline will be revamped after staff and funding shortages led to a series of tragic and deadly failures.

The Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority will become Triple Zero Victoria and established as a new statutory authority, with the Andrews government claiming it will bring greater oversight and accountability to the troubled service.

ESTA will become Triple Zero Victoria.Credit: Scott Barbour

After a series of Age reports about the number of people who were dying waiting for an ambulance, Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes said the new body would represent a “new era”.

“[The reforms] will ensure Victorians can continue to have confidence that when they call triple zero, they will get the help they need, when they need it,” she said in a late-notice statement provided to the media on Tuesday night.

“Our dedicated and tireless ESTA staff do an incredible job on the front line every day – these reforms will also give them certainty that the highly skilled service they provide will be supported by a strong and resilient system.”

In 2022, leaked documents showed more than 1000 Victorians could have been harmed by triple-zero delays, including very ill children and those having heart attacks.

Dozens of Victorians died waiting for triple zero calls, as the state government insisted the troubled ESTA service had improved.

Under the changes to be announced on Wednesday, a new operational committee would include representatives from ambulance, police, fire and the State Emergency Service who could provide advice to the body’s board to ensure Victorians calling triple zero received the highest quality service.

There will be “robust reporting requirements” that will enable Triple Zero Victoria to escalate and resolve issues that could affect emergency service delivery, and the Department of Justice and Community Safety will be required to endorse Triple Zero Victoria’s annual financial plans and operating budgets.

The Andrews government, which has been in power since 2014, said it started putting extra money into ESTA in October 2021 to help meet “overwhelming demand”.

A report from Inspector-General for Emergency Management Tony Pearce found the COVID-19 pandemic had strained Victoria’s health system – particularly ESTA – and caused answer times to blow out from the five-second target to, in some cases, more than 10 minutes.

At least four children died waiting for ambulances due to the staffing issues at ESTA, which were due to a lack of funding from the state government.

The former chairman of ESTA was pressured to resign after asking the state government for a long-term solution to a funding method he said was fundamentally flawed.

Roger Leeming, who spent a decade on the board of ESTA, told The Age that in 2015 he asked for about $30 million in ongoing funding, indexed to demand, to protect the agency’s performance.

“Every time we met [the government] we told them we were short of funds and something had to be done on a short and long-term basis,” Leeming said in September 2022. He said he was pressured to resign a short time later in January 2016.

Pearce’s report found insufficient funding was the “main cause” of the agency’s inability to keep up with record demand for ambulances during a surge of calls during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ESTA chief executive Debra Abbott promised the new organisation would be world leading.

“These reforms will ensure Triple Zero Victoria can deliver an effective and sustainable service to the Victorian community now and for decades to come.”

New legislation to create Triple Zero Victoria will be introduced into parliament on Wednesday.

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