New emergency services app to provide more accurate location

The Government is making a request for proposals to build the new emergency services app. Photo / Thinkstock

The Government hopes a new smartphone app for emergency services will save lives and money.

Communications Minister Amy Adams said 70 per cent of calls to 111 were made from cellphones.

But many callers could not provide accurate location information to ambulances, police or firefighters.

This could cause delays as long as 15 minutes as emergency services tracked down the exact location of a crisis.

On average every minute caused an extra $4000 in fire damage to houses, Ms Adams said.

The minister announced today the Government was making a request for proposals to build the new emergency services app.

She told a commerce select committee hearing in Parliament the new app would have to speed up the time in which a caller made contact with the right service.

Meanwhile, Labour MP Clare Curran suggested there was a lack of transparency around Government projects involving rural broadband rollout and fixed wireless connections.

"The information is not being provided to the public."

Ms Curran said better evaluation of rural broadband initiatives was needed.

The Minister said she agreed rural areas needed better broadband but the National government had to start from a "low base" inherited from its Labour predecessor.