Tuesday, 29 October 2024

Country Fire Authority

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:31): (705) My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Minister, Ambulance Victoria fire medical response training for CFA volunteers includes emergency and trauma conditions such as pelvic fractures, neck and spinal injuries, strangulation, childbirth, life-threatening bleeding and amputations, just to name a few. From next month CFA volunteers will be dispatched to emergency call-outs that require immediate medical intervention before an ambulance arrives. Given the delays in response times for ambulances, especially in regional areas, CFA volunteers are concerned about the government’s reliance on them to fill the gap in Ambulance Victoria. So I ask: why are CFA volunteers expected to plug the enormous shortfall caused by your government’s mismanagement of ambulance services?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:32): Ms Crozier, I will take the opportunity to thank all of our emergency services volunteers and paid staff for their day-in, day-out responses to Victorians in need. The simple answer to your question is that we do not expect CFA volunteers to become ambulance paramedics, but there are a range of factors and a range of circumstances where it is appropriate for emergency services to respond to a range of emergencies and to be trained effectively. Not all CFA vehicles and volunteers would be equipped to do so, but there are some across the state who are trained in EMR. In relation to how broadly that would be rolled out, I will obtain a briefing so that I can give you some further advice. But the answer to your specific question is: they are not.

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:33): That is reassuring. Minister, 000 call takers will not be providing information to the caller that it will be CFA volunteers who will be attending rather than an ambulance. Currently all radio communication for the CFA goes through the Firecom operator, not AV, so on busy bushfire days, messages already struggle to get through, which you are well aware of. Minister, will CFA volunteers be expected to attend medical emergencies over bushfires and house fires because there are no ambulances available?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:33): I answered the question in your substantive question. No, we have paramedics that respond to health emergencies, and we are not changing that.