Wednesday, 29 November 2023

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:18): (378) My question is again to the Minister for Emergency Services. Minister, the ambulance union claims that:

ESTA continues to struggle with understaffing and is again resorting to non-standard rosters to address employment gaps.

Minister, have any of those employment gaps caused delays in communication to Ambulance Victoria?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:18): Ms Crozier, I am really proud of the ESTA workforce, soon to be Triple Zero Victoria. They have overcome monumental challenges that were presented as part of a one-in-100-year pandemic. It is a wonderful workplace. They are meeting their call performance targets. They are attracting new staff. Every time I visit I find someone that has worked there for more than 20 years. This is a workplace that has gone through a challenge but goes from strength to strength every day. I love visiting the ESTA workplaces around the state. They are providing an exceptional service to Victorians because of the support and investment from this government. It is a credit to their leadership and every single individual that works there.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:19): President, the minister failed to go even close to the question. We all know that 33 Victorians died because of the failures in ESTA. Your government was warned in 2016 about the underfunding, and now you are trying to cover up those failures. Minister, the union has said that. You have failed to answer that question, so I will ask again: when will those employment gaps and the understaffing in ESTA be rectified?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:20): You are putting a position to me, and the facts do not support the premise of your question. ESTA are far exceeding their call-answering benchmarks for ambulance each and every day.