Australian Emergency

Emergency Information

The number 000 (called ‘triple zero’ or ‘triple oh’) can be dialed from any telephone in Australia, home or payphone, free of charge. This number will connect you with emergency operators for the police, fire brigade, and ambulance service. The first question that the operator will ask is which service you need.

If you want to contact these services but the situation is not an emergency, don’t call 000 — call your local police, fire brigade, or ambulance station.

While you can dial 000 from an increasing number of mobile phones sold in Australia, the universal emergency number on these is actually 112. All carriers provide a 112 service to all phones within their coverage area, so you may be able to call 112 from your phone even if you do not have normal phone coverage from your own provider. You can also call it from phones whose SIM cards have been removed.

The teletext (TTY) emergency service number for hearing or speech impaired people with appropriate equipment is 106.

Calls from fixed line/landline phones may be traced in order to assist the emergency services to reach you. The Australian emergency services cannot trace the origin of emergency calls from mobile phones, so be sure to calmly and clearly provide details of your location. Because of an increasing number of calls made accidentally from cellular phones left in bags or pockets, the emergency operators will disconnect your call after 30 seconds if they do not think there is anyone at the other end of the line.

Emergency numbers from other countries (for example, ‘911′ in the USA) do not work in Australia.

Medical care

Australia has first world medical standards, and you can expect to receive treatment that is the equal of care in other industrialised countries. In particular, it is safe to receive blood transfusions in Australia, as donors are screened for HIV, hepatitis and many other blood borne illnesses.

However, since Australia’s population density is low, parts of Australia are a long way from medical facilities of any kind. Towns with population 5000 or more will have a small hospital capable of giving emergency treatment in serious emergencies, and larger towns will have a base hospital capable of routine and some kinds of emergency surgery. In severe cases, particularly any kind of injury requiring microsurgery, you will need to be evacuated to one of the capital cities for treatment. Evacuation procedures are well established and normally involve being evacuated by plane or helicopter.

Australian citizens and permanent residents who live in the country can receive healthcare through the taxpayer funded Medicare system (although in most states ambulance costs are entirely the user’s responsibility). Other travellers should hold appropriate insurance covering medical expenses, as they will be required to pay the full cost of care. Visitors from New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Malta and Norway are entitled to free reciprocal Medicare treatment for medical problems that occur during their visit.

Specific Australian Dangers to Watch Out For

• Poisonous and dangerous creatures
• Beaches
• Natural Disasters
• Violent Crime
• Outback
• Northern Australia