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New research has found that one in nine Australians did not receive the AusAlert emergency broadcast, and for the vast majority of those who missed it, there is no clear explanation why.
The findings are drawn from a nationally representative survey of 1,000 Australian adults, conducted by Primara Research for Australian software engineering firm Airteam. The data reveals that 87 per cent of people who missed the alert had their phone switched on and connected to a network at the time, meaning the failure rested with the system rather than with the user.
Only 13 per cent of those who did not receive the message had their phone turned off or in airplane mode. For the remaining 87 per cent, there is no identifiable reason the alert failed to reach them.
Almost half of the people who missed it – 49 per cent – have no idea why they did not receive the alert. A further 16 per cent believe the issue was related to the age of their handset.
“An emergency alert system is only as good as its weakest delivery point, and right now almost nine in ten people who missed out can’t explain why,” Rich Atkinson, Executive Director of Airteam, warned.
The findings raise questions about the reach and reliability of Australia’s national emergency alert infrastructure, at a time when public trust in such systems is under growing scrutiny.
iPhone users missed the alert at higher rates
One of the more unexpected findings from the research is that iPhone users were more likely to miss the alert than the general population.
iPhone users missed the alert at a rate of 14 per cent, compared to the national average of 11 per cent. iPhones account for more than half of all devices in use across Australia, making the disparity particularly notable.
“It’s counterintuitive. iPhones are the most widely used device in Australia, and you’d expect alert systems to be built and tested around the largest user base first,” Atkinson explained. “Instead, the most common phone on the market is failing more often than average, not less.”
The result challenges the assumption that users of widely adopted platforms would be better served by national emergency communications systems. If anything, the data suggests that the scale of iPhone adoption has not translated into more reliable alert delivery for those users.
Geographic disparities across states and territories
The research also uncovered significant variation in miss rates across different parts of Australia.
NSW and Victoria both recorded miss rates of 9 per cent, sitting below the national average. Queensland was in line with the national figure at 11 per cent.
Western Australia and South Australia each saw miss rates of 14 per cent, while the sharpest gap was in smaller states and territories, where 21 per cent of respondents reported receiving no alert at all.
That means people in smaller jurisdictions were more than twice as likely to miss the alert compared to those in the two largest states. The data does not identify a cause for the disparity, but the gap points to an uneven rollout or inconsistent infrastructure across different regions.
Older phones at greater risk, but newer devices not immune
The age of a handset was found to compound the likelihood of missing the alert, though newer devices were far from fully protected.
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Among owners of newer phones, 8 per cent still missed the message. That figure rose to 16 per cent for handsets aged four to six years and climbed to 35 per cent for devices six years or older.
The data suggests that while phone age is a contributing factor, it does not account for the full scope of the problem. Even among people using relatively current hardware, a measurable proportion did not receive the emergency broadcast.
Alerts that arrived without context
The issues extend beyond delivery failures. Among people who did receive the alert, not all of them received enough information to understand its purpose.
Only 66 per cent of recipients also received an on-screen message explaining what the alert was about. That left 23 per cent of people who heard or felt the alert but had no accompanying explanation of what it was for.
“The data shows two separate failures – alerts that never arrive, and alerts that arrive without enough information to act on,” Atkinson pointed out. “Both erode the same thing: trust that the next alert will actually reach people and tell them what to do.”
The gap between receiving an alert and understanding its purpose represents a second layer of system failure. An alert that reaches a person but provides no actionable information may generate confusion or anxiety without delivering any of the safety benefit the system is designed to provide.
A measurable erosion of public trust
Perhaps the most concerning figure in the research is the downstream effect on public confidence.
Among those who missed the alert entirely, 41 per cent are now worried they could miss a genuine emergency in the future. That figure represents a direct erosion of trust in a system whose effectiveness depends on public confidence that it will work when it matters.
“This isn’t a minor inconvenience, it’s a safety failure,” Atkinson stressed. “Four in ten people who missed this alert are now worried they won’t be warned about a real emergency, and a system like this only succeeds if people trust and respond to it.”
Emergency alert systems are built on two assumptions: that messages will reach people and that people will act on them. The research suggests both assumptions are under strain. When alerts fail to arrive at all, or arrive without context, the cumulative effect is a population that is less confident in the system’s ability to protect them.
Two distinct failures at a national scale
The research identifies two separate problems that together undermine the reliability of Australia’s emergency communications.
The first is a delivery failure. Eleven per cent of the population did not receive the alert, and for the overwhelming majority of those people, there is no user-side explanation for why.
The second is an information failure. Among those who did receive the alert, nearly a quarter received no on-screen explanation of what it was for, leaving them with a sound or vibration but no way to understand or act on the message.
Each failure on its own would be a concern. Together, they point to a system that is falling short of the standard required for a national emergency communication platform, one where both coverage and clarity are necessary for public safety.
The survey was conducted by Primara Research following the distribution of the AusAlert message. Airteam is an Australian software engineering firm that builds software and analytical models for government and enterprise clients.
Last Updated on July 28, 2026 by Nick Ross
