Daniel Andrews in grovelling apology over ambulance delays

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has blamed unprecedented demand for the state’s triple-zero call crisis, declaring no amount of extra funding would have stopped the system being overwhelmed.

A report by the state’s Inspector-General for Emergency Management was released on Saturday and found 33 people died following adverse events linked to ambulance call delays and other issues.

It prompted two senior ministers to publicly apologise on behalf of the Victorian government but Mr Andrews went a step further on Tuesday during his first public appearance in three days.

‘I offer my deepest condolences and sympathies and my personal apology … to anybody who has been touched by this virus and particularly those who have lost a loved one,’ he told reporters in Frankston.

‘You can imagine the pain and the great burden those families carry with them every single day and we extend those condolences and that apology with a sense of commitment.

‘Not only to those individuals but a commitment to every single Victorian to make the change, to make the improvements, the investments. That’s what we are doing now.’

The report found the Victorian government was aware of the Emergency Service Telecommunications Authority’s (ESTA) precarious financial position as early as 2015, and the ad hoc nature of the year-to-year supplementary funding limited its ability to recruit to meet demand.

‘It also limits ESTA’s ability to plan beyond 12 months or implement longer-term investments to improve the service during business-as-usual and surge events,’ it said.

But Mr Andrews said the pandemic was no ordinary surge event and the triple-zero system would have been overwhelmed no matter how much funding was tipped into it.

‘Nothing in that model would avoid the system being overwhelmed by the thousands of additional calls for day after day after day,’ he said.

‘Many things have been overwhelmed in recent years, and it’s incredibly challenging and tragic.

‘And that’s why we send not only our best wishes and our sincere condolences and sympathies to those families, but we apologise for a system that did not meet your needs.’

Mr Andrews claimed the pandemic was no ordinary surge event and the triple-zero system would have been overwhelmed no matter how much funding was tipped into it

ESTA’s benchmark is for 90 per cent of ambulance calls to be answered within five seconds.

But figures blew out to unacceptable levels after Victoria moved away from lockdowns in October 2021 and hit record lows during the first Omicron wave in January.

The Andrews government in May vowed to recruit and train almost 400 extra call-takers but Inspector-General Tony Pearce described the pledge as a short-term fix.

‘In four years’ time if you don’t finish the work on that model, you will be back in the same place you are now,’ he told The Age.

Mr Andrews said he understood Mr Pearce’s frustration but noted the Victorian government only allocates agencies’ funding four years in advance.

‘He wants to see what happens in the fifth, sixth and 10th year. I’m giving him and all Victorians a commitment that we’ll see this through.’