000 delays risk lives

State MP Fiona Simpson has called for urgent action over ‘000’ call delays, saying they could risk lives after an incident at Mooloolaba this week.

Ms Simpson said the robbery of the ‘iLove Computers’ Authorised Apple Reseller Store at Bundilla early on Monday morning was bad enough but now it had been revealed how the man who called “000” while it was happening was put on hold for 4-5 minutes before being transferred to police.

Neighbouring bakery owner Dane Van Wegen acted quickly to call “000’ as soon as the Apple store was attacked, the second time in less than four months, but he experienced a frustrating delay while waiting to be patched through to police.

“This is an unacceptable delay as you don’t know what robbers will do in regard to damage to human life or property. I commend local police for their rapid response once notified but I question why there was a delay in the ‘000’ operator patching the call through to police,” Ms Simpson said.

Ms Simpson said Mr Van Wegen told her he had experienced the same problem 12 months earlier when another local business was robbed and he rang ‘000’ and was also put on hold.

“I’m extremely concerned the State’s ‘000’ emergency call service should have notified police quicker. This seems to be a systemic failure – not a one-off. The emergency call system is letting down the public.

“In the incident on Monday (Jan 9) Mr Van Wegen rang ‘000’ about 3.13am. “The State Government tries to blame prank callers for clogging up the system but I don’t think you can seriously claim that’s the case at three in the morning. Their excuses don’t add up.”

Ms Simpson said she was taking the issue further with the Minister and calling for the system to be fixed.