There are concerns lives are being put at risk by hundreds of people using the triple 0 ambulance service as a taxi.
More than 22,000 people called for an ambulance for everything from breaking a nail to having their bed adjusted.
Health minister John Della Bosca says some of the excuses being given are completely inappropriate.
“Like a person asking paramedics to retrieve a pillow which fell off the bed because he was too tired to retrieve it; a person who claimed she’d cut her foot but it was in fact a piece of beetroot lodged in her slipper; a person who just rang the paramedics so they could adjust her bed and a person complaining that they couldn’t sleep.”
Shadow Health Minister Jillian Skinner says it’s wasting vital resources.
“The real problem is that ambulances have to respond to all calls just in case it is a matter of life and death.”
“Where there are addresses that are known to be regular callers for unnecessary matters – I think the government should consider charging those people the cost of getting the ambulance to their home.”
