AusAlert vs Emergency Alert

Emergency Alert launched in 2009. It sends location-based SMS messages and automated landline calls to warn people about emergencies. For 17 years, it has been Australia's only national telephone-based warning system. But its limitations have become increasingly clear during real emergencies.

SMS is sent one message per phone number, so during mass emergencies large alert campaigns queue. During past flood emergencies, throughput limits meant warnings took hours to deliver, and some never arrived at all.

The 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements found the technology was "outdated" and recommended its upgrade as a priority.

How Emergency Alert fails

• Capacity limit: one SMS per number, sent in sequence. During mass emergencies, the queue backs up for hours.
• Blocked as spam: Alerts come from +61444444444. Many people block this number.
• Network congestion: SMS uses the same channels as voice and data. During emergencies, networks are overloaded.
• Wrong location: SMS relies on carrier "last known location" data, which can be hours or days stale.
• Inbox full: If your SMS inbox is full, the alert is silently dropped. No retry.
• Landline failures: Cordless phones don't work during power outages. Automated calls can't connect if the line is in use.
• Cross-border confusion: Residents near state borders receive alerts from adjacent states they aren't in.

AusAlert uses cell broadcast instead of SMS. Cell broadcast sends a single message from a mobile tower to every device in range simultaneously, using a dedicated signalling channel that is separate from voice and data.

This is the same technology used by the US (Wireless Emergency Alerts since 2012), Japan (J-Alert since 2007), the EU (EU-Alert mandate since 2018), and New Zealand (Emergency Mobile Alert since 2017).

• No capacity limit: All devices receive the alert simultaneously. No queue.
• Cannot be blocked: Critical Alerts sound even on silent or Do Not Disturb and cannot be opted out. Lower-level Priority Alerts can be turned off in device settings.
• Carrier-agnostic: works across all providers on active 4G and 5G networks.
• Precise targeting: alert areas as small as 160 metres, including areas that cross state borders. No stale carrier data.
• No phone number needed: Works without a SIM card or active plan.
• Privacy preserving: the system does not collect or store phone numbers or locations.

Officially, AusAlert will "eventually replace" Emergency Alert. Reporting indicates both systems will run in parallel through the transition:

• June 2026: AusAlert community tests completed in 9 communities across every state and territory, all successful
• Monday 27 July 2026: National test -- all compatible devices
• 1 October 2026: AusAlert launches. Emergency Alert remains in service alongside it during the transition
• Around mid 2027 (reported): Emergency Alert expected to be phased out. No official retirement date has been announced

During the transition, emergency services may send alerts through both systems simultaneously to ensure maximum reach.

Neither Emergency Alert nor AusAlert provides a developer API. This is a gap that sets Australia behind international practice. In the US, FEMA provides IPAWS-OPEN (free developer access), an archived alerts dataset, and real-time CAP feeds for registered consumers.

EmergencyAPI bridges this gap for Australian developers. It aggregates official government emergency feeds from all 8 states and territories into one REST API with GeoJSON, CSV, and CAP-AU output formats. Free tier at 5,000 calls per month.

For more on how emergency alert data is structured, see our CAP-AU Developer Guide.