At 2.00pm on Monday, 27 July, all Australians will receive an emergency alert on their phones, smart watches and tablets from AusAlert as the new national warning system plans to test out the system before implementing it in October.
Using advanced cell-broadcast technology to send emergency messages during local and national disasters to anyone in an active 4G and 5G mobile network area, the alerts will only be sent to anyone near or in an area affected by an emergency.
Created in response to the 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements the program was funded by the 2022-23 and 2023-24 budgets.
Testing will officially begin in select communities as early as June, although a nationwide alert will occur on 27 July at 2.00pm in NSW, ACT, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria. All residents in the Northern Territory and South Australia will receive an alert at 1.30pm.
Western Australia residents will receive the alert at 12.00pm.
During the test alert, a single message will be sent to every device in Australia that will also vibrate and play a siren-like warning sound for approximately 10 seconds. An example of the siren sound can be found on their website.
The message will be clearly labelled as a test message and will read:
CRITICAL AUSALERT
TEST MESSAGE – AUS ALERT
This is a TEST of AusAlert, Australia’s new emergency warning system.
NO ACTION IS REQUIRED.
In an actual emergency, follow the instructions in the alert to keep yourself and others safe.
Visit www.ausalert.gov.au for more information.
This message is authorised by the Australian Government.
Depending on the type of device owned, a similar message with the heading “Presidential Alert” or “Extreme Threat Alert” might be received. Both are valid alerts with identical content.
No action is required during the test alert however, in the event of an actual emergency, AusAlert will inform the recipient of the type of emergency, where it is located, how serious it is, what to do, where to find more information and the name of the emergency organisation that authorised the alert.
For anyone that does not receive an alert, AusAlert advises this may occur if a device is not compatible or wasn’t connected to a mobile tower.
As the test will include a Critical Alert, there is no way for anyone to “turn it off”.
For anyone wishing to not receive an alert during the test period (such as anyone with a ‘safe phone’, or anyone who might feel the message will cause someone to feel unsafe), AusAlert advises they turn the device onto Aeroplane Mode before the scheduled test time and then leave it off for at least one hour following the alert.
More information on the national test can be found at www.ausalert.gov.au
Elizabeth Kovacs
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