The federal government will upgrade emergency warnings and text alerts and improve interstate communication for first responders, with more than $10 million allocated in next week's federal budget.
A new National Messaging System would replace the current SMS system which often becomes overrun during emergencies, delaying messages from filtering through.
It would allow a state and territory government to instantly message all mobiles in a defined area regardless of service provider.
Messages could be sent in multiple languages and would appear as a notification temporarily overriding the device to prevent them from being overlooked or dismissed.
The system would use technology already in use overseas to send prioritised warnings and mitigate the spread of misinformation during disasters.
Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said the new system would improve safety and limit infrastructure damage.
"During a fire, flood or cyclone we know every second is critical, so by giving residents and first responders more warning, we can give people the best chance possible," Mr Watt said.
"Pretty much every disaster affected community I've been into one of the things I constantly hear is that people feel they don't get information quickly enough.
"That means that they're caught short, they don't know what to do and puts them in dangerous situations.
"This National Messaging System will replace the current SMS-based systems which too often get overloaded with messages and that's one of the reasons why we have delays in those messages getting out."
Mr Watt and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland will jointly develop and implement the system over the next 18 months, before it becomes operational late next year.
Emergency services to move to single communication network
Each state and territory emergency service agency currently has a separate voice or radio network, making communication between services and states difficult.
The Albanese government will allocate $10.1 million dollars in this month's federal budget to progress a replacement national model.
That Public Safety Mobile Broadband system would allow for the sharing of live location information, video and photos between services and states on a secure network.
This year's budget allocation is to establish a task force to progress the model, with Mr Watt insisting it will replace the current, outdated system as soon as possible.
"I think it is very strange in this day and age that different states have different communications systems," he said.
"That of course becomes a big problem when we've got bushfires and other events that span different state borders and when we've got volunteers helping out in other states and not able to communicate with each other."
The national secure communications system for emergency services was a key recommendation of the 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.
