Federal Minister for Justice Michael Keenan and NSW Attorney-General, and Acting Police and Emergency Services Minister Greg Smith SC, today launched the Emergency+ smartphone app at the City of Sydney Fire Station.

When activated, the Emergency+ app provides users with their GPS reference which they can report to an emergency call taker to pinpoint physical location.

“More than 65 per cent of calls to Triple Zero are from mobile phones,” Mr Keenan said.

“Sometimes mobile phone users are not aware of their physical location – making it difficult for emergency call operators to dispatch emergency services.

“This app helps callers tell emergency operators their location as determined by their smartphone’s GPS capability.”

Mr Smith acknowledged the work of NSW Fire and Rescue and the national Triple Zero Awareness Work Group which led the project.

“This project is a yet another example of how our emergency services agencies are embracing new technologies to improve emergency response,” Mr Smith said.

The app also contains the emergency contact numbers and a short explanation of when to call non-emergency numbers such as the Police Assistance Line (131 444) and the SES national number (132 500). This is to help members of the public dial the correct number and reduce the number of calls to the Triple Zero (000) service that should be directed to another service.

The Emergency+ app is free and available on iOS and Android devices through the Google Play store and the Apple App Store.

The development of the app was funded by the Australian Government through a National Emergency Management Project grant.