Minister Announces Funding for Triple Zero Victoria Telephone Infrastructure

Minister for Emergency Services, Vicki Ward, visited us on Friday 1 May at Tally Ho to announce funding of $101.9 million to upgrade Triple Zero Victoria’s telephone infrastructure, as part of the Victorian State Budget 2026/2027.

The current telephone technology we use will no longer receive supplier support and maintenance worldwide by the end of 2028, so this funding means we can act early to future proof.

This decision demonstrates the strong support from Government for our critical systems that enable our front-line staff to deliver critical services to the community. Last year, we answered almost 3.1 million calls for help. That’s 8,500 calls a day or one every 10 seconds. As demand continues to grow, we need to ensure we have a system that helps you to continue to provide this critical service to the community.

This upgrade protects the community for the future, so Victorians can get help fast, when it matters. It gets the right emergency call to the right call taker, faster and without interruption.

We will ensure we achieve continuity and replacement of our telephone system by working with our current services provider (NEC) and through establishing a project team to identify and obtain a suitable replacement system, and most importantly ensure you are all supported through this change.

We will provide more details in the coming months, noting that the full Victorian Budget 2026 /2027 will be announced Tuesday 5 May.