Victoria’s Triple Zero service (000) is to be transformed following a review into the Emergency Services Telecommunication Authority’s (ESTA) capability and capacity to deliver consistent Triple Zero (000) services.
In his ESTA Capability and Service Review report, former Victoria Police Chief Commissioner, Graham Ashton said ESTA connected people in need of immediate emergency assistance with the State’s emergency service organisations (ESOs).
Mr Ashton said the ESOs were Ambulance Victoria, the Country Fire Authority, Fire Rescue Victoria, Victoria Police, and the Victoria State Emergency Service.
“The original intent of the legislation that established ESTA envisaged that ESTA and ESOs would operate in a partnership model to deliver emergency communication services,” Mr Ashton said.
“It is clear that this original intent has never fully been achieved,” he said.
“There were numerous reasons identified through consultation that may point to why, ranging from ESTA’s governance structure to the competing priorities of the sector, through to the funding model that underpins the foundations of the relationship between ESTA and ESOs.”
Mr Ashton said the absence of a partnership model alone did not fully explain or justify the “continued and systematic underperformance of an Agency charged with connecting the Victorian community with critical services in times of an emergency.”
He said ESTA, along with the ESOs, must have clearly defined roles and accountabilities that were meaningful and measurable.
To achieve this, Mr Ashton made 20 recommendations, all of which the State has supported in principle.
Releasing the Government’s response to the Review Report, Minister for Emergency Services, Jaclyn Symes said action on five of Mr Ashton’s recommendations was already underway and work on the remaining 15 would commence immediately.
Ms Symes said that as an immediate priority, the focus would be on recommendations related to call-taking and dispatch, managed services and technology services, and intelligence capability.
She said the major governance changes and reforms in relation to performance standards were expected to follow in 2023.
“As part of the major structural reforms designed to ensure ESTA continues to improve and deliver a stronger service for all Victorians, ESTA will be supported by a new board of advisers which includes members of ambulance, police, emergency and fire services,” Ms Symes said.
“Importantly, this new governance model will strengthen the partnership between ESTA and the State’s key ESOs,” she said.
“ESTA will be brought into Government with the form and structure to be agreed as part of the reforms to be progressed in 2023.”
Ms Symes said the move would allow ESTA to focus on its key, primary aim of stronger, faster call-taking and dispatch.
The Minister said the Agency would also undergo a major rebrand – becoming Triple Zero Victoria – to better reflect its core call taking and dispatch function.
Mr Ashton’s 80-page Review Report can be accessed at this PS News link and the State’s 12-page Response at this link.
