THE Canberra Liberals say it’s “unacceptable” that firefighters were used to respond to medical emergencies in Canberra over the weekend.

It comes after reports that ACT Fire and Rescue firefighters dealt with ambulance call outs in the priority two category over the weekend, due to staff shortages.

Canberra Liberal’s spokesperson for emergency services for James Milligan said it’s concerning that the ACT doesn’t have enough staff to meet roster demands.

“It is unacceptable in this day and age that firefighters should be used to respond to medical emergencies, other than to support the work of their ambulance colleagues,” Mr Milligan said.

Mr Milligan said the ACT government promised to increase the number of paramedics and ambulances two years ago.

“There were to be another 99 staff employed, yet to date, we have only seen another 36,” he said.

“This speaks to another government failure and another broken promise.”

Mr Milligan said the government must make good on it’s promise to get more staff on the ground.

“It isn’t good enough to blame covid any longer,” he said.

“We are aware that this situation continues, however, we have lived with the virus for the last two years and Canberrans could reasonably expect that there would be enough paramedics on the ground to fully staff all ambulances.

“The people of the ACT deserve better from this government.”