The Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) was founded in 2004 as the agency responsible for managing the telecommunications of Victoria’s emergency services. Unlike other states, Victoria has a centralised call-taking and dispatching service for Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria, Fire Rescue Victoria, the State Emergency Service and the Country Fire Authority (often collectively referred to as emergency services organisations, or ESOs).

While concerns had previously been raised about ESTA’s funding structure, staffing levels, governance model and ability to meet call-taking and dispatching benchmarks, criticisms intensified over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. With repeated delays in dispatching ambulances to critically ill Victorians and subsequent reviews by ESTA and the Inspector-General for Emergency Management (IGEM), the government was prompted to instigate changes to the structure and governance of ESTA.

In September 2022, the Victorian Government committed to disbanding ESTA and replacing it with a new statutory body: Triple Zero Victoria (TZV). The Triple Zero Victoria Bill 2023 was introduced in August 2023. This Bill Brief outlines how ESTA is currently structured, highlights some of the key points from recent reviews, and explains how the proposed new agency will work. This paper should not be considered a complete guide to the subject, but it examines a few key issues raised about the management of ESTA.