Ambulance radio upgrade long overdue

Queensland Ambulance Service’s analogue radio system was way past its use-by-date with paramedics forced to use their own mobiles in hundreds of  black-spots across the State – especially Brisbane and the south-east.

LNP emergency services spokesman Ted Malone said the Bligh Government had blown $80 million on a non-functioning new comms centre, but had sat on its hands and done nothing to upgrade the ambulance radio network.

“It’s so out of date it’s a joke, and the Minister refuses to even acknowledge there’s a problem,” Mr Malone said.

 “There are hundreds of black spots right across the State and not just in the regions.

“Because much of the network is still out-dated analogue, which works on line-of-sight signal, there are black-spots right across Brisbane, including the CBD, and all over the south-east.”

 Mr Malone said frontline paramedics were often forced to use their own mobile phones to call 000 for back-up.

“The Bligh Government is so miserable …they (paramedics) don’t even get reimbursed for those calls …which are made in the line of duty to call for assistance when the radios in their ambulances won’t work because the network is so hopeless.”

 Mr Malone said while the Bligh government happily blew tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money on spin doctors, highly-dubious propaganda and advertising, it was ignoring a major public safety issue in the out-of-date QAS radio network.