Triple zero services in Victoria have undergone a significant period of crisis and transformation over the past four years. This presentation will explore the factors that led to the crisis, as well as the key leadership challenges that drove the transformation required to rebuild stakeholder confidence.

Triple Zero Victoria (000VIC) provides Victoria’s 24-hour emergency call-taking and dispatch (CTD) services for police, fire, ambulance and VICSES. Triple Zero Victoria also provides non-emergency CTD and operational communications for Victoria’s emergency services. This unique integrated model provides the critical link between the Victorian community and the state’s emergency services agencies.

Unprecedented demand for 000 services through 2021-22 had a significant impact on all aspects of our business, then called Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA). Surges in community demand through COVID outbreaks, combined with staff illness and furloughing, reduced our ability to deliver services to the community in a timely manner. Like other frontline services across the world at this time, capacity pressures stretched the organisation to its limits and community service delivery suffered as a result.

This impact to service delivery led to decreased confidence by stakeholders, including community members and our service delivery partners. ESTA was the subject of significant scrutiny, both from the media and the public. It was clear that parts of ESTA needed to change.

In response, the Victorian Government provided significant investment to meet existing demand and support future growth. A broad reform program was established to boost call taking and dispatch capacity, build better surge capability, strengthen wellbeing supports and upgrade systems. The introduction of new legislation in the Triple Zero Victoria Act 2023 was another major component of reform.