News of the AusAlert conspiracy resulted in a head-tilt from me.

To be honest, I was not aware it was happening. The marketing for AusAlert never filtered through my algorithm, so wherever they spent their money, it wasn’t in the internet realm of squirrel videos, archeological mysteries, and British crime shows.

Out of nowhere, someone mentioned they were thinking of buying a special Faraday bag for laptops and phones to ‘protect’ them from the text message instead of … putting their device on airplane mode or simply turning it off.

This method of avoiding the alert is made clear on the official documentation.

Setting aside genuine safety issues from a random siren coming out of an otherwise well-behaved phone, the idea that there is anything more nefarious going on is a bit odd.

The need to attach the label of ‘conspiracy’ to everything is dangerous, but not for the reason you might imagine. If everything is perceived as a conspiracy, then nothing is. The really shady stuff gets hidden in the forest of theatrical outrage and click-bait farming. For the most part, this has already happened. It is especially prominent in the realm of America’s conservative podcasters. Once, these accounts led the way in independent media. Now, they seem locked in a downward spiral of introspective psychosis that ignores the genuine threats facing the West.

That said, even the average Australian has noticed a drop in media and political trust following Covid. It is not uncommon for people to say they trust nothing after the pandemic years. Well, nothing except anonymous accounts online with a financial interested in deception. As someone who fought for truth during the Covid years, I find the decline of information integrity quite depressing.

And so it is that, somehow, there are question marks hanging over AusAlert and what should be a procedural text message alert trial.

From the limited information I can find on this venture, it is not so different to the alarm tests they do in the Sydney CBD once in a while. Or the messages the police send when a dangerous escaped criminal is on the loose.

On Monday, July 27, an alarm will sound on our phones. The AusAlert system has two forms: a critical alert and a priority alert.

Testing something like this is standard. Having it as an option is probably a good idea.

Our region of the world is creeping toward actual war (in large part thanks to the idiocy of successive governments) and being able to send an emergency notification is standard in places currently at war. It is also useful, generally, for bushfires, floods, and severe storms, so long as it is not abused in the future to send us Carbon Emission Alerts.

There are some questions though … such as why it has cost $132 million.

Emergency text alerts have always been available. It seems bewildering that a standard system could attract a price tag of this magnitude. Considering how many automatic scam messages there are running around, they could have employed the dark web to build it for a fraction of the price. Heck, when I walk next to certain fast-food outlets in the city, despite never having purchased from them, I receive a text-alert for a special deal. That didn’t cost the taxpayer anything.

I am joking, of course.

However, let’s ask a few reasonable questions.

What will AusAlert be used for?

We are told it is designed to cover:

security threats
public health emergencies
biosecurity incidents
natural hazards like bushfires, floods, cyclones, and tsunamis

Do I want an alert to tell me about a Sydney version of Pearl Harbour? Yes, definitely. An anthrax exposure at a train station? You bet. Catastrophic natural events? That’s helpful and we already get those. It’s the public health emergencies topic that seems most vulnerable to misuse. For proof of that, we have the Covid years. Our government has done nothing to prove itself capable or responsible enough to engage in this field.

The most dangerous part of the AusAlert system is likely to be its existence.

Scammers have already exploited other government facilities. Everything from Covid check-in apps to payroll. If the government puts a service online, a scammer will incorporate its branding into the system. The AusAlert website even warns about this, and advises anyone who receives something suspicious to report it to ScamWatch. I use the service sometimes, even though I have my doubts about how many scammers end up in an Australian jail cell. Barely any.

Why does AusAlert exist?

Australia has had various alert systems which have evolved with technology. The primary form of communication has moved from TV and radio to mobile phones.

The Emergency Alert Australia began in 2009 and is capable of mass text messages and auto-dialling landlines. This was in use during the horrific Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020. Over four million texts were sent and nearly half-a-million calls made.

The subsequent Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements found there were gaps identified in this system which meant some people did not receive alerts.

These issues are genuine technological failures that, in an emergency system, pose a concern to public safety. Forget panic over the next pandemic, the most likely fail point of the current system is a bushfire, flood, or cyclone. As mass migration continues to force millions more people into high-risk areas, these alert systems will become more important. Especially as migrants lack generational knowledge of the land and emergency procedures that Australians learn as children.

This does not excuse the project coming in with such a high price tag.

Originally, it was costed at a far more reasonable $10 million.

According to governmentnews.com.au

Describing the build as ‘quite technical’ at a launch event on Thursday. Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain told media she didn’t view the inflated bill as a cost blowout. ‘I see it as an investment in community safety,’ she said.

This answer does not address the cost.

‘We now have 35 countries that are using this type of technology,’ the Minister continued.

‘So we’ve been working with our international counterparts in similar agencies to the one that Coordinator-General runs, working with them, understanding how their system has worked, utilising their learnings in this build.’

When pressed on potential expansions of the system beyond its advertised scope, such as potentially including ‘alerts to get vaccinated for particular diseases like dengue fever in a certain area or Q fever in cattle areas and so on’, the Minister said ‘we do not want this system to be diluted’ although offered no definitive promise.

It is a shame the government spent over a hundred million on an alert system, instead of investing that money in equipment to solve the emergency.

This remains my issue with government spending.

Technology is always the priority, but real-world equipment and volunteers is often forgotten. Yes, money is being spent here, but we are a long way from being on top of the situation and it is my view that these shocking cost blowouts for AusAlert require more scrutiny, just as the ridiculously over-priced BOM website did.

And a final note, if the government wants to keep the public safe and informed, why didn’t they start with fixing the mobile coverage on the highway between Sydney and Brisbane? After the Mid North Coast, there are hours of black space.

It is another example of hyper-fixating on the high-level problems while the foundational infrastructure is broken.

The post The AusAlert conspiracy appeared first on The Spectator Australia.