CASE  STUDY  REPORT  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LOCATION-­BASED  SOLUTION  –  NATIONAL  TELEPHONE-­BASED  
EMERGENCY  WARNING  CAPABILITY  
 
 
Designing  Public  Policy  
Course  Coordinator:  Dr.  Stephen  Jones  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
STUDENT  CONTACT  DETAILS  
Student  Name:   Student  Number:   Email  Address:  
         
Rodrigo  Zarate   43115657   rodrigo@rodrigozarate.com  
     

Work submitted may be subjected to a plagiarism detection process. If this process is

used, then copies of this work would be retained and used as source material for
conducting future plagiarism checks.

 
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PARTNERSHIP TITLE

LOCATION-BASED SOLUTION – NATIONAL TELEPHONE-BASED EMERGENCY

WARNING CAPABILITY

DETAILS OF PARTNERSHIP

This National Partnership was established between the Commonwealth of Australia and the

State of Victoria.

It is intended to introduce enhancements to the existing National Emergency Alert System,

with the purpose of sending warning messages to mobile phones in the defined area of an

emergency, using the location information reported by the mobile terminal (Ministerial

Council for Federal Relations, 2012).

BACKGROUND

This project was created to introduce enhancements to the existing Emergency Alert System,

established by the previous and expired National Partnership called “Development of a

Telephone-Based National Emergency Warning System”. NEWS (National Emergency

Warning System) allowed States and Territories to deliver alert messages to fixed-line and

mobile phones in the area of an emergency based on the billing address of the subscriber in

case of an emergency (Aloudat, Michael, Abbas, & Al-Debei, 2011).

The discussion regarding the implementation of a national emergency warning system can be

tracked back to 2004, but an agreement could not be reached with all States and Territories

until 2008 (Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, 2009), and so

the government started working of legislation to allow Emergency Service Organizations

(ESO), such as police forces, fire brigades or ambulance services (Aloudat, Michael, Abbas,
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& Al-Debei, 2011) to access the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND), but concerns

mainly about privacy and funding delayed the establishment of the system (Aloudat &

Michael, 2011). Finally, after the bushfire emergency in Victoria in 2009, an agreement was

finally established and legislation was passed to modify the Telecommunications Act 1997. In

the meantime of the legislation modification process, interim access to the IPND was

requested to the Solicitor-General (Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital

Economy, 2009), rising again questions about the risks to privacy (Aloudat & Michael, 2011).

Telstra was appointed as the contracted provider to build NEWS (EIWS Project Team, 2009);

while the funding was provided by the Commonwealth ($15.65 millions), to be executed by

the State of Victoria on behalf of the other States and Territories (except for Western

Australia that implemented its own emergency warning system, called State Alert). The States

and Territories were responsible for the purchase of advertising space and to operate and

manage NEWS, while there is not responsibility allocated to the Commonwealth, except ofr

the provision of the funds against the committed milestones.

The agreement being analysed in this report accounts for the second phase of NEWS, where

states will extend their agreements with mobile operators to implement the technology to use

the last know location of a handset to enable ESOs to send it warning messages in case of an

emergency, in case that device is located in the area of an emergency.

The State of Victoria is now responsible for the negotiation, procurement and relationship

with mobile operators and States and Territories.

DRIVING FORCES & KEY PLAYERS

The establishment of a national emergency warning system has been promoted by the

Commonwealth Government and discussed with the States and Territories since 2004

(Aloudat, Michael, Abbas, & Al-Debei, 2011). As explained before, an agreement to

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implement the first stage between the Federal Government and the States and Territories was

reached in 2009 and the system was operational in October of that year, and the State

Victorian Government was appointed to act on behalf the other States and Territories, since it

was appointed as a “lead State”. For the second stage, a partnership was established directly

between the State Victorian Government and the Commonwealth, and it would be in charge

of the procurement process to involve mobile operators in the project and therefore lead the

implementation in the remaining states.

The role of the State of Victoria on these two agreements is significant, and could be

explained on the urgency that arose after bushfires of 2009. In fact, Victoria State authorities

have been claiming for the deployment of a warning system like the one contained in this

agreement for a long time, and sent several complaints and requirement to the Commonwealth

government asking for the acceleration of the process and pleading for and agreement. After

the bushfires in 2009, Victoria played a decisive role in the achievement of the agreement

(Bita & Sainsbury, 2009). This could explain the leading role assigned to Victoria and its

procurement on behalf the other States and Territories.

Public opinion and media were an indirect but powerful force for the established of the policy,

since the tragic outcomes of Victoria bushfires on 2009. Concerns about public safety were

now on the public agenda, which was de decisive factor to the sign of the agreement and the

execution of the policy.

Some groups and opinion groups have been appointed as detractors to the establishment of

this kind of solution due to concerns about the safety of private information (Aloudat &

Michael, 2011), but no substantial evidence was found in this regard.

As a final remark, it needs to be said that apparently, the creation of this agreement is the

optimal choice for the development of a system to help prevent citizens in case of emergency.

Numerous restrictions can appear if states are allowed to create different and not compatible
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systems, since there is free movement from citizens along States. Moreover, in order to guard

the safety of all population, it is required that the system can be addressed to all citizens in the

same bases and in the same time frame, in order to reduce disparity in the application of

public funds and initiatives.

STAKEHOLDERS

•   The States of New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia,

Tasmania, The Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory of Australia.

•   Emergency Service Organizations

•   Mobile telecommunication operators (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone Hutchinson Australia)

•   Telecommunication Equipment Manufacturers (both providers for mobile operators

and vendors of alternative emergency warning solution).

•   Australian Communication and Media Authority.

•   Citizens in general (as end users of the Emergency Warning System and also as actors

concerned about the security of private information and its disclosure on behalf of

security).

EVIDENCE USED TO SUPPORT PARTNERSHIP

The information used to support these partnerships has not been disclosed; consultation to

different actors was performed by ACMA, in order to assess the necessary (and possible)

changes to the Telecommunications Act 1997. On the other hand the Victorian Government

released a RFI (Request For Information) tender in 2009 to gather information about the real

capabilities operators had to implement the required enhancements to the Emergency Warning

System. Results from the study showed that: using network data to locate mobile handsets
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was likely to best suit government requirements; and, direct engagement with all three

telecommunications carriers (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia) and further

work was required to determine feasibility and cost, which was finally determined by July

2010 (Parliament of Australia, 2012).

Later, in January 2011, a RFP (Request For Proposals) tender was issued to all three mobile

carriers, even though it was suspended by approximately eight weeks, to assess other

technologies besides LBS to serve the interests of the policy initiative. After this period, the

RFP was resumed with some revision, but confirming the solution initially selected. Finally,

the negotiation process began, and a contract was issued to Telstra on December 2011

(Parliament of Australia, 2012). Agreement with Optus and Vodafone was reached in

September 2012 (Premier of Victoria, 2012; Optus Corporate Affairs, 2012).

On the other hand, only a few scholars conducted external research about the partnership and

its technical, political and ethical implications. Anas Aloudat and Katina Michael wrote most

of the work available.

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

The implementation process for this agreement comprises two main stages:

-   Contract execution between Victoria and Telstra to develop and provide the LBS on

its network and to deliver the necessary changes to the Emergency Alert platform to

support the LBS from the other carriers.

o   Due date: 31 May 2012

o   Relevant Report Due: 7 June 2012

o   Payment: $26.2 millions (Ministerial Council for Federal Relations, 2009).

-   LBS implemented and operational across all carriers.

o   Due date: 31 October 2013

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o   Relevant Report Due: 30 November 2013 (Ministerial Council for Federal

Relations, 2009).

For this agreement, it must be considered that the defined milestones are based on

modifications or additions to the existing NEWS. Moreover, an original agreement with

Telstra already existed. Based on this, Telstra managed to develop the system by December

2012 (Thomsen & Jess, 2012), and Optus and Vodafone are expected to do the same in

November 2013.

In terms of funding, since the cost estimation of the project was assed by Victoria

Government directly with the system contractors (the 3 mobile carriers), the Commonwealth

will not reduce its contribution in case State of Victoria secure other sources of funding

through other partnerships, and also if the final cost of the project happens to be less than

estimated. Likewise, Victorian Government will be responsible for securing any additional

funding in case the cost of the project is higher that the estimated one, and the Commonwealth

contribution will not be modified. The State of Victoria is required to submit a report within

30 days of the completion of the project agreed. In case the project is not operational across

all carriers by October 31st, 2013, the Government of Victoria is mandated to return all funds

unexpended and uncommitted by that time to the Commonwealth.

ISSUES AND PROBLEMS

It is necessary to examine on one hand the issues that lead to the creation of the initiative, and

in the other, the concerns expressed by citizenship and opinion groups regarding the project.

The concern about emergencies and warn people to react against them in an effective way is

based on the realization of the capacity of such situations to bring social, economic,

environmental and political disruption (Buzan, Woever, & Wilde, 1998). In this respect,
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Australia has considered threat management acknowledging that various types of could cause

that situation and will have similar capacity to impact the population, and for that, most of the

procedures and measures to be deployed to control the threat are generic (Aloudat, Michael,

Abbas, & Al-Debei, 2011).

Nevertheless, the fact that triggered the final agreement for the creation of NEWS was sadly

the loss of lives after bushfires of Victoria in 2009, sadly know as Black Saturday (O'Brien,

2010). The security of the population facing any kind of threats is a mayor concern for the

Commonwealth Government and this is the main driver for the definition of the NEWS

program.

However, the fact that the Commonwealth government initiates the proposal of a emergency

warning system based on the location of the subscribers, both fixed line or mobile subscribers,

rose criticisms and questions about the security of individual’s personal information, and

other technical related concerns (but also connected with the safety of citizens) such as the

overload of the telecommunication networks, such as the emergency number system (Minister

for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, 2009). Nevertheless, the existence

of citizens concerned about the disclosure of private information by means of access to IPND

in emergency situations has only mentioned in general terms in the literature (Aloudat &

Michael, 2011), but there is no record in the press of such concerns. Mostly, it is understood

from press releases that the privacy issues were discussed among publicy makers while the

agreement were under assessment.

These concerns, made impossible to achieve an agreement between States and Territories with

the Federal Government. The access to the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND), the

industry database that contains all public telephone numbers and its relevant information

(subscribers names, billing addresses, type of service contract, etc) is regulated by the

Telecommunications Act 1997, and its use by the Emergency Alert System required
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modifications to it. The database is owned by the Commonwealth Government and managed

by the incumbent operator, Telstra (ACMA, 2009). Concerns pointed the risk to information

privacy by the misuse of (1) the personal data of subscribers for purposes different than

security and (2) the access to the database itself, which could lead to malicious or even

mistaken communications to the population.

Another issue that was an impediment for an earlier agreement on the creation of NEWS was

the funding structure for the project, since different states were arguing about this issue. (Bita

& Sainsbury, 2009). There was no disclosure of the reason of disagreement between the

States in this issue, but it was solved after the happenings of 2009.

Finally, doubts have arisen about the technical capacity of carriers to develop the technology

required to comply with the requirements for the second stage of the agreement

(Bita & Sainsbury, 2009). In this respect, a criticism can be made to the implementation

process of this partnership since little evidence could be found about the decisions made by

authority. Since the issue of modifications to the telecommunications regulation and to the

telecommunication networks themselves, it is expected that the industry would have a

sounded role in the definition of solution alternatives, since the topics that needed to be

analysed are of such complexity and actuality that bureaucrats would not be able to relate at

such technical level. Evidence of this kind of standardization process, research groups and

international agreements is conducted by industry associations, such as the Institute of

Electric and Electronic Engineers, IEEE; the Global mobile Supplier Association, GSA;

Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA); 3G Partnership Project (3GPP), International

Telecommunication Union (ITU).

For the implementation of the second stage of NEWS the Victorian Government reached and

agreement with Telstra, as explained previously. The capacity was tested during the flood

emergency in Queensland in 2011, and some concerns were again raised by the public
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opinion. Particularly, actors that have been separated of the discussion due the early definition

of the type of solution (telephone-based solution) have submitted doubts and analysis of the

performance of alternative systems (Robson, 2011).

CONSIDERATION OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE

POLICY

There is a clear interest in the public wellbeing and in the preservation of human lives in case

of threats or disasters in the creation of this policy. As stated previously, there has been a

discussion about telephone-based emergency warning systems since 2004, with the objective

of addressing the population in risk and define a quick and effective response as soon and

properly as possible. The implementation of this agreement considers various events that is

necessary to analyse in terms of the public interest consideration.

Modifications to the Telecommunications Act 1997 and access to IPND: Regulation has been

introduced to allow access to the IPND by the ESO in order to address the population located

inside an area defined in risk of an emergency situation. Besides the concerns for privacy

protection, this regulation is aimed to secure the effective implementation of the emergency

warning system. Moreover, the changes introduced in the Telecommunication Act 1997

follows the restrictions imposed by the original document, i.e., allowing access in limited

situations, establishing the procedures for security of the information and defining

accountability procedures for the institutions making use of this faculty.

Definition of the technological solution for the implementation of NEWS: After the

agreement was reached between Commonwealth Government and States and Territories, and

in parallel with the implementation of the first stage on the project (the previous partnership

called “Development of a Telephone-Based National Emergency Warning System”), the

government of Victoria released a Request For Information (RFI) tender to initiate the process
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of assessing the capability of mobile operators to implement NEWS, and to which Optus and

Telstra presented proposals (State Government of Victoria, 2009). Concerns were raised by

manufacturers of different types of solutions (e.g., radio-based), claiming that authority

disregarded them in benefit of the mobile industry (Hilvert, 2011). In fact, since its origin,

NEWS was conceived as a telephone-based solution, introducing bias to the design of the

policy. The pros and cons of focusing on one type of solution can be analysed, but are out of

the scope of this report. Briefly, scale economies and benefits from the introduction of

standardized solutions can be considered. The point to be highlighted is the apparent lack of

discussion in the way the decision of what approach to use was taken. There is no evidence in

the sources used (press articles, submissions to the Senate) of lobby action from the mobile

industry.

LESSONS FOR FUTURE GOVERNMENT PUBLIC POLICY/PROGRAMMES

First issue that must be considered is the timing in the decision taking process. Very often,

public policy decisions are taken after a critical event happens, and that means, too late. Of

course it is necessary to considerate all the processes, agreements and discussions that need to

occur for a public interest issue become subject of public policy, and even more to agree and

start with the drafting of the policy. But it is important to consider that in matters of public

safety, such as the case of the State of Victoria, the opinion and the concern of local

government is of crucial relevance.

Regarding ethical aspects, the conflict of privacy with public safety is difficult to solve. The

involvement of the State with privacy matters is an issue that has been addressed in policy

from natural disasters to terrorist threats. In this case, the approach taken by the

Commonwealth and the COAG seems effective: define the basic requirements and involve the

relevant actors with high influence (in this case, mobile carriers and to some extent, ESO) and
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provide the funds for the research and implementation at a State level, allowing State

Governments to dimension and master the deployment of the projects with their own

singularities. This is the case of Western Australia, that used the legal reforms and part of the

base created by the agreement to develop their own Warning System. Of course, in this case,

the scope and responsibilities needs to be well defined, in order to been able to create an

agreement and reduce the discussion time.

Finally, some doubts arise from the technical definitions made by the Commonwealth in order

to build this project. The evidence shows a bias condition towards the definition of the

technical solution, and even it seems technically proper (this is a personal opinion based on

the wide knowledge about the industry). There is a sense of lack of opinion in matters of

international recommendations, standardization processes and consideration of other

stakeholders (beyond mobile operators). It can be inferred that the lack of technical

knowledge in the Commonwealth bureaucracy made the influence of mobile industry, and

particularly Telstra, to predetermine the output of the agreement. Unfortunately, no evidence

could be found in this regard.

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Works  Cited  
Aloudat, A., Michael, K., Abbas, R., & Al-Debei, M. (2011). The Value of Government
Mandated Location-Based Services in Emergencies in Australia. Journal of Information
Technology Research , 4 (4), 41-68.

Aloudat, A., & Michael, K. (2011). Recommendations for Australia's Implementation of the
National Emergency Warning System Using Location-Based Services. Journal of Ubiquitous
Systems and Pervasive Networks , 3 (2), 59-66.

ACMA. (27 de March de 2009). Integrated Public Number Database (IPND). Retrieved 25
de May de 2013 from http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_300146
Bita, N., & Sainsbury, M. (12 de February de 2009). Bungling silenced Victoria bushfires
warning. Retrieved 2 de May de 2013 from The Australian:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it-old/bungling-silenced-victoria-bushfires-
warning/story-e6frgamf-1111118829671

Buzan, B., Woever, O., & Wilde, J. (1998). Security: A New Framework for analysis (1st ed.).
Lynene Rienner.

EIWS Project Team. (2009). Emergency Information Warning System. Retrieved 25 de May
de 2013 from City of Mitcham: http://www.mitchamcouncil.sa.gov.au/page.aspx?u=1505
Parliament of Australia. (14 de February de 2012). Senate Standing Committee On Legal And
Constitutional Affairs Attorney-General’s Department . Retrieved 30 de May de 2013 from
Parliament of Australia:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=legcon
_ctte/estimates/add_1112/ag/QoN53_NSRPD.pdf

Hilvert, J. (14 de June de 2011). Tempers flare over national emergency warning system.
Retrieved 22 de May de 2013 from IT News for Australian Business:
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/260373,tempers-flare-over-national-emergency-warning-
system.aspx

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. (23 de February de
2009). Rudd Government implements COAG agreement on telephone-based emergency
warning systems. Retrieved 17 de May de 2013 from Minister for Broadband,
Communications and the Digital Economy:
http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2009/rudd_government_implements
_coag_agreement_on_telephone-based_emergency_warning_systems

Ministerial Council for Federal Relations. (2012). Location-Based Solution - National

Telephone-Based Emergency Warning Capability. Retrieved 2013 from Standing Council on
Federal Relations:
http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/other/telephone_warning_capabilties/
national_partnership.pdf

Ministerial Council for Federal Relations. (2009). Development of a Telephone Based

National Emergency Warning System. Retrieved 2013 from Standing Council on Federal
Financial Relations:
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http://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/other/Telephone_warning_system/nat
ional_partnership.pdf

Optus Corporate Affairs. (22 de Septiembre de 2012). Optus to implement national location-
based emergency warning system. Retrieved 29 de May de 2013 from Optus:
http://www.optus.com.au/aboutoptus/About+Optus/Media+Centre/Media+Releases/2012/Opt
us+to+implement+national+location-based+emergency+warning+system

O'Brien, R. (3 de August de 2010). Governments vow to learn bushfire lessons. Retrieved 20

de May de 2013 from Government News:
http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2010/08/03/article/Governments-vow-to-learn-bushfire-
lessons/PEZHXXMMFU.html

Premier of Victoria. (6 de September de 2012). Vodafone on board with national Emergency

Alert system. Retrieved 29 de May de 2013 from Premier of Victoria:
http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/4810-vodafone-on-board-with-
national-emergency-alert-system.html

Robson, S. J. (2011). Submission to the Senate committee inquiry into the capacity of
communication networks and emergency warning systems to deal with emergencies and
natural disasters. Retrieved 25 de May de 2013 from Senate Committee Submissions:
http://senate.aph.gov.au/submissions/comittees/viewdocument.aspx?id=c913bdba-ece2-4295-
8f8a-995d26ac0059

State Government of Victoria. (August de 2009). Victorian Government Tenders System.

Retrieved 12 de May de 2013 from Victorian Government Tenders System:
https://www.tenders.vic.gov.au/tenders/tender/display/tender-
details.do?id=87&action=display-tender-details&returnUrl=%2Ftender%2Fsearch%2Ftender-
search.do%3Faction%3Dadvanced-tender-search-open-tender

Thomsen, J., & Jess, A. (2 de November de 2012). Testing emergency SMS alerts and radio
broadcasts. Retrieved 1 de June de 2013 from ABC Goulburn Murray:
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/11/02/3624415.htm

The Australian. (13 de January de 2013). World-first system of fire alerts to pick up location
of phones. (S. Lunn, Editor) Retrieved 20 de April de 2013 from The Australian:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/world-first-system-of-fire-
alerts-to-pick-up-location-of-phones/story-e6frgczx-1226243009086
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APPENDIX: CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS

This description of events is taken from the Senate Standing Committee On Legal And

Constitutional Affairs hearing on 14 February 2012 (Parliament of Australia, 2012):

“The LBNS is the central data source of geo-coded telephone numbers and

address information on which Emergency Alert and StateAlert relies. The LBNS

was purpose built because there was no such system available in 2009.

3.As stated, in 2009 there was no alternative system to the LBNS, which was

purpose built following an open tender process.

Following that open tender process, the Attorney-General’s Department

awarded a contract in 2009 to design, develop, implement, commission, host,

administer, manage, support, maintain (and as required further develop), a

mission critical secure database of telephone numbers extracted from and

synchronised with the Integrated Public Number Database, with the geo-coded

location details associated with each number, together with other relevant data -

the LBNS. The LBNS is used to derive and deliver essential telephone number

data to Emergency Alert and Western Australia’s StateAlert to enable the

delivery of geographically targeted warnings.

4.There will be no impact on the use of the LBNS as a result of the system

upgrade to Emergency Alert.

5. The Attorney-General’s Department, States and Territories and other key

stakeholders have determined that, at this stage, the LBNS does not require a

system upgrade to accommodate the location based mobile telephone emergency

warning capability. This issue will continue to be monitored as the project

progresses.
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6. During the design phase of the location based warning system project,

Victoria conducted extensive and thorough design workshops with carriers and

jurisdictional technical representatives to ensure that each carrier’s system is

designed with full redundancy.

The system upgrade is designed to have minimal operational impact on

Emergency Alert. As with any technology project, any operational impact will be

at the time of least risk, communicated, managed and mitigated with

stakeholders.

7. Following the Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) April 2009

agreement to establish Emergency Alert, the Commonwealth committed $1.35

million for research into the feasibility of establishing the Location Based

Solution (LBS) as an enhancement to Emergency Alert.

In June 2009, Victoria commissioned a Request for Information (RFI) study to

assess the feasibility of developing the LBS. RFI submissions from carriers

closed in October 2009. Results from the study showed that: using network data

to locate mobile handsets was likely to best suit government requirements; and,

direct engagement with all three telecommunications carriers (Telstra, Optus

and Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA)) and further work was required to

determine feasibility and cost.

A feasibility study was completed by July 2010 and concluded, among other

things, that a mobile telephone location based emergency warning capability

was technically feasible.

On 14 September 2010, the Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP and the

then Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP, jointly announced that

the Commonwealth would assist the States and Territories to fund the
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establishment costs associated with the development of the LBS. As with

Emergency Alert, Victoria leads the negotiation process for LBS on behalf of

States and Territories.

Between September 2010 and January 2011, prior to the release of a formal

Request for Proposal (RFP) to the three telecommunications carriers, Victoria

conducted a number of project activities and determined governance

arrangements for the LBS capability.

In January 2011, Victoria issued a RFP to all three mobile telephone carriers.

An extensive evaluation process followed, including formal clarification of key

aspects of the proposals and initial face-to-face workshops. The RFP evaluation

process concluded in March 2011, and in April 2011, Victoria suspended the

RFP for approximately eight weeks. During the suspension period, between

April and June 2011, governments conducted a number of project activities,

including the commissioning of research into new and emerging technologies as

currently understood. This research confirmed that progressing with the

location based warning capability project with the carriers’ current technical

solutions was warranted. This period also allowed the Victorian project team to

revisit the technical requirements, service levels, and risk of the capability.

In June 2011, the RFP process resumed. Revised proposals were evaluated,

negotiation briefs were prepared, and preliminary meetings were held with the

three carriers. Separate formal negotiations between Victoria and each of the

carriers then began.

On 23 December 2011, on behalf of States and Territories, Victoria executed a

contract with Telstra to provide location based emergency warnings to its

mobile phone customers.

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Victoria, on behalf of States and Territories, continues to progress negotiations

with the other two carriers (Optus and VHA).

8. Negotiations with Optus and VHA are continuing with Victoria.

9. It is hoped that each of the three carriers will be contracted to deliver the

location based emergency warning capability to their respective subscribers.

Ideally, negotiations with Optus and VHA should be finalised and contracts

executed in time to have the capability available for the 2012/13 disaster

season.”

It can be added that agreement with both Vodafone and Optus was achieved on September

2012.