The Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA) was founded in 2004.
ESTA provides the critical link between the Victorian community and the state’s emergency services agencies. It provides Victoria’s 24-hour emergency call-taking and dispatch services for police, fire, ambulance and VICSES.
ESTA also provides advanced, operational communications for Victoria’s emergency services. This supports police, fire, ambulance and VICSES personnel in the field.
Emergency call-taking and dispatch is at the heart of what ESTA does. ESTA’s triple zero call-takers are on the phone with callers when emergency help is needed most. In tandem, ESTA dispatchers relay critical information to the emergency services to get units to the scene. In 2021–22, ESTA answered more than 2.8 million calls for assistance, representing a call every 11 seconds or more than 7,600 a day.
Call-taking and dispatch services are delivered from three State Emergency Communications Centres (SECCs) located at Ballarat, Burwood East and Williams Landing.
Reviewed 14 March 2023