Emergency services can be contacted through the NRS in life threatening or time critical situations.
With the exception of Video Relay calls, a call to emergency services is prioritised ahead of other calls in the NRS call answer system. There is no queue priority for Video Relay calls. In an emergency, NRS users are encouraged to contact emergency services using another NRS call option.
Callers to emergency services need to:
- Ask for the service they need—police, fire or ambulance.
- State or confirm their location.
- Be ready to explain the emergency.
The NRS respects every caller's privacy and treats all calls with confidentiality. However, calls to emergency services may be recorded to assist emergency service operators and provide a record of the emergency situation.
Calls to Triple Zero (000) can be requested by users of the NRS through any call option, bearing in mind that connection issues can affect the reliability of all types of calls, including calls to emergency services. The designated TTY emergency call number (106) is available to TTY users.
More information
For a detailed step-by-step explanation about how to make emergency calls using different NRS call options, read the instruction sheets:
1.3 NRS Chat—call to emergency services
2.3 SMS Relay—call to emergency services
2.6 SMS Relay (Text and Listen)—call to emergency services
4.4 NRS instruction sheet—Video Relay—call to emergency services
5.3 NRS Captions—call to emergency services
6.3 Voice Relay—call to emergency services
7.3 TTY Speak and Read—call to emergency services
7.6 TTY Type and Read—call to emergency services
7.9 TTY Type and Listen—call to emergency service