Government accused of hiding inquiry into tragedies

THE State Government, it appears, has added insult to tragedy for the family of the late 82-year-old Cowes man Stewart Grant.

Mr Grant’s wife Carol and family have been left grieving and angry after their calls to Triple Zero on January 29 this year didn’t result in an available ambulance being dispatched until it was too late.

Mrs Grant made the call to Triple Zero at 12.32pm only to be told an ambulance could not be sent, paramedics called back at 12.44pm offering support but an ambulance didn’t arrive until 1.12am at which time Mr Grant was pronounced dead.

However, while the Health Minister Martin Foley acknowledged that ESTA (Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority), which operates the Triple Zero service was at fault, not ambulance paramedic, the result of an inquiry into ESTA’s capabilities, headed up by former police chief Graham Ashton, are not being made public.

In State Parliament on Thursday this week, when asked if Graham Ashton’s review of Victoria’s failing triple-zero hotline would be released to the public, Minister for Emergency Services Jaclyn Symes said the document would go through a Cabinet review process before any decision to release the document is made.

But, according to Shadow Spokesman Brad Battin, once a report is presented to Cabinet, it becomes an exempt document under the Freedom of Information Act and allows the Government to hide the report from public scrutiny.

“If the document is indeed run through the Cabinet process, which is not required by any piece of legislation, to hide it, it will be an outrageous affront to the families of the dozens of Victorians that have died while waiting for their desperate call for help to be answered,” Mr Battin said.

He has slammed the State Government’s attempts to keep the report hidden.

“Victorian’s deserve straight answers on the government’s triple-zero failures.

“Lives are being lost, yet instead of acting to fix the problem Daniel Andrews continues to play games and cover-up the truth.

“The families of those who have died deserve better. Nothing will bring their loved ones back, but they deserve to know the truth about what happened.

“Daniel Andrews must backflip on this cover-up and commit to releasing this report in full.”