Emergency alerts

Emergency alerts are sent by emergency services to landline telephones based on the location of the handset, and to mobile phones based on the billing address. In the case of an emergency, you may receive a voice message on your landline or a text message on your mobile phone. If you receive an emergency alert and want more information, follow the instructions in the message or find your local emergency service on this website.

How are alerts sent to landlines? Alerts are sent to landlines by the physical location of the handset.

Emergency Alert is a telephone warning system that emergency services can use to send alerts to communities via landline telephones based on the location of the handset and to mobile phones based on the billing address.

Once a decision to warn communities in an emergency has been made, the emergency services organisations will determine what method will be used, for example radio, web, or TV and whether a telephone alert needs to be issued. A telephone alert is just one way to warn a community and it will not be used in all circumstances.

More information can be found from the emergencyAlert.gov.au website (opens in new window).