By Sarah Richards

Topic: Emergency Services

Wednesday, 22 July 2026, at 5:45 am

The Triple Zero phone system upgrade will make emergency calls more reliable.

In short:

The Queensland Ambulance Service is upgrading the Triple Zero phone system.

The upgrade is delayed due to a third-party service provider issue and will be finished by March 2027.

What's next?

The current Triple Zero system will not be affected by the delay.

The Triple Zero phone system upgrade has been delayed until next year due to the Iran war.

The Queensland Ambulance Service started the project in March 2024.

The high-priority upgrades were supposed to be finished this December.

The project is now scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2027.

The war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz delayed parts for the upgrade.

The Queensland Ambulance Service gets a Triple Zero call every 24 seconds.

The current Triple Zero operations will not be impacted by the project's delay.

The $12.7 million project will update the technology to support over one million emergency calls per year.

In Australia, emergency calls first go to a nominated operator, currently Telstra.

The operator asks if the emergency is about ambulance, fire, or police and then transfers the call.

The upgrades will offer better support to medical dispatchers.

The Queensland Ambulance Service had more demand for services last year.

In the first three months of this year, the service got a Triple Zero call every 24 seconds.

Almost 95% of Triple Zero calls were answered in 10 seconds in 2025/26.

The upgrades will modernize the call system to answer emergency calls more reliably.

The project aims to deliver a better platform for staff to provide world-class care.

'Closely monitored' project status

The project was marked as 'amber' due to higher-than-expected costs in October.

Current Triple Zero operations have not been impacted by the delays.

The project team is working to confirm the system's scope and functionality.

The potential solutions will deliver more value than initially planned.

The project returned to a 'green' status in November, indicating it was on track.

The project's approved expenditure of $12.74 million is on track.

The upgrades will enhance the Ambulance Service's capabilities.

The project has been a long-time coming since the Public Safety Business Agency was disbanded in 2021.

The upgrade is one way the government is enhancing the Queensland Ambulance Service.

The state government opened an $8.31 million QAS Clinical Hub at Kedron in Brisbane.

The hub provides secondary triage and health navigation after a Triple Zero call.

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