This four stamp set promotes the 000 emergency helpline. Triple zero is the primary national emergency number in Australia, and is operated by Telstra as a condition of its telecommunications licence. Other emergency numbers in Australia are 112 for GSM mobile phones and satelitte phones, and 106 for TDD textphones. The office of the postmaster general introduced 000 into major metropolitan areas in the 1961, and by the end of the 1980s it was available nationwide. For more information on Triple Zero visit http://www.triplezero.gov.au .

This is not the first time Australia Post has issued stamps for the Emergency Services or to promote public health initiatives. In 1997, a set of four stamps was issued features emergency scenes. Similarly, stamps have been issued during the years to promote heart health, breast cancer awareness, organ donation etc.

45c Emergency Services stamps from 1997

Issue Information
This issue was initially going to be released on 15 June, but with the approval of new postal rates on 28 June, this issue has been delayed until 13 July, and will include 60c stamps. It is assumed that the stamps will be issued in the same formats as the 55c stamps, however it is possible that the range of products may change. Because of this, this page will not be updated until we see the stamps.

Gummed Sheet Stamps
Sheet stamps are issued in se-tenant strips of four stamps.

Sheet stamps

Gummed Gutter Strips
The illustrated gutter shows items linked to the stamps. The 'Stay Focussed, Stay Relevant, Stay Online' stamp is repeated on the right hand side of sheet.

Gutter strip

Self-adhesive Coil Stamps
Pemara was the only printer of the coils of 200. Stamp Bulletin No. 304 is not clear on who printed the coils, and what paper was used - the table below gives the correct information.

Coil stamps

Self-adhesive Booklet Stamps
McKellar Renown printed the booklets of 20. There are some minor colour differences, but the best way is under UV light where again McKellar Renowns tagging appears 'crosshatched' while Pemara's is much more solid.

McKellar Renown self-adhesive stamps

Pemara (left) and McKellar Renown (right) self-adhesive stamps under UV light showing the difference in phosphor tagging

Self-adhesive Booklets
Booklets were distributed to post offices in chequebooks of 20 booklets. These are not listed on this website.

Booklet layout

Booklet cover

Postal Stationery
The image below comes from the Stamp Bulletin No. 304 and shows the 55c stamps. No image of the maximum cards has been posted on Australia Post's web shop showing the 60c stamps.

Maximum cards

Issue Summary
The table below summarises the above information. The cost of each item is given, along with a total for each section. In some cases the stamps are only available from self-adhesive booklets (sold at face value), or from prestige booklets, souvenir sheets or folders (sold above face value).

Item and Description	Cost
For the General Collector
Gummed sheet stamps Horizontal se-tenant strip (4 x 55c) Self-adhesive stamps Strip of four from coil (4 x 55c)	$2.40   $2.40
Total	$4.80
For the Specialised Collector
Self-adhesive stamps Booklet stamps with different phosphor Gutter Strips Gutter strip of 10 (with Emergency items) Booklets Booklet with philatelic barcode Booklet with general barcode Postal stationery Maximum cards	$12.00   $6.00   $12.00 $12.00   $5.40
Total	$47.40
Grand Total	$52.20

References
Wikipedia, Triple Zero, accessed 9 April 2010
Australia Post, Australian Stamp Bulletin, No. 304, May-June 2010
Australian Government Triple Zero Website , accessed 11 April 2010

If you have more information, or spot an error, please e-mail me.