A Newcastle domestic violence charity has reminded people living with domestic violence to be vigilant ahead of today’s nationwide AusAlert test.

AusAlert is the federal government’s new national warning system, used to send messages during disasters and emergencies.

Set to roll out in October, a test of the system will be conducted at 2pm (AEST) on Monday 27 July, and a test alert will be sent to all mobile devices in Australia, including most phones and some smartwatches and tablets.

During the test, devices will vibrate, play a siren-like warning sound for about 10 seconds, and display a message confirming it is an AusAlert test.

Got Your Back Sista General Manager Jo Buckingham said that the test could potentially put women living with domestic and family violence at risk.

“The main concern is for women that potentially may have a safe phone that they are using to keep themselves safe and communicate to their safe people in regard to the situation they are in regarding domestic and family violence,” she said.

“If they haven’t got that phone into flight mode, or they have got it switched off, that alert will sound the alarm, which could potentially put them in great danger. People could also keep it with a safe person for that period, so the potential risk is removed.

“The idea is to switch your phones off, or remove them from your space completely, have them in flight mode, that is what is being communicated to our services.”

Buckingham added that switching a phone to silent was not sufficient to bypass the alert.

“If they’ve got their phones on silent or do not disturb, the alerts will still go through,” she said. “Ensuring that the phone is completely switched off, and isn’t answerable, is really important.”

It is also recommended by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) that people concerned about the alert should switch their devices off or put them in airplane mode one hour before the test and keep them in that state for at least one hour after the test concludes.

Anyone with concerns is urged to contact 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), 13YARN (13 19 26 – crisis support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders), or the NSW Domestic Violence Hotline on 1800 656 463.

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