How to Call Australian 13, 1300 and 1800 Numbers From Abroad (myGov, ATO, Centrelink, Home Affairs)
Dial +61 and the number as printed: 13 and 1300 lines connect from abroad but cost about five times an Australian landline, and 1800 is not free overseas. The verified +61 lines for the ATO, Centrelink, Home Affairs, passports and myGov, what a year of real calls cost, and when to call.
Dial +61 and then the 13, 1300 or 1800 number exactly as printed. Most connect from abroad. The price is the problem: 13 and 1300 numbers cost about five times an Australian landline once you leave the country.
- Where the agency publishes a +61 2 or +61 3 line for overseas callers (the ATO, Home Affairs, Centrelink, the Passport Office all do), use it. It is cheaper and never refused.
- myGov does not: its overseas line is the 1300 number. The longest myGov call in our logs was 65 minutes and cost $17 at the 1300 rate.
- 1800 numbers are not free from abroad. Nothing Australian is free from abroad.
What 13, 1300 and 1800 numbers are, and what they cost from outside Australia
Australia has three ranges of business and government numbers. 13 numbers are six digits (13 28 61), 1300 numbers are ten (1300 169 468), and both are “local call” numbers: from an Australian landline they cost the same as a local call, and from an Australian mobile they cost whatever the mobile plan says. 1800 numbers are free for the caller inside Australia because the organisation pays. None of the three has a leading zero, which is why the usual “drop the 0” advice does not apply: you dial +61 and then the number as printed.
From abroad the pricing rules vanish. Carriers outside Australia classify 13 and 1300 numbers as a “shared cost” class and charge a premium for them. On BubblyPhone the difference is stark and published: an Australian landline is about $0.05 a minute, a mobile about $0.11, a 1800 number about $0.06, and a 13 or 1300 number about $0.28. A roaming mobile typically bills $1 to $3 a minute to any Australian number, and some prepaid SIMs and calling apps refuse the 13 and 1800 ranges altogether.
| Number type | Inside Australia | From abroad (BubblyPhone) | A 30-minute call |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 and 1300 | Local call rate from landlines | about $0.28 a minute | about $8.50 |
| 1800 | Free | about $0.06 a minute | about $1.70 |
| 02, 03, 07, 08 landline | Local or national call | about $0.05 a minute | about $1.50 |
| Any number, roaming mobile | n/a | typically $1 to $3 a minute | $30 to $90 |
What a year of real calls to these numbers looked like
We pulled every answered call our customers made to an Australian 13, 1300 or 1800 number in the twelve months to mid-September 2026: 54 calls by 16 people in 11 countries, from Germany, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Morocco, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and the US, plus Australians abroad. Small numbers, but a clear pattern.
- One line dominates: the myGov helpdesk on 1300 169 468. Four unrelated people called it 15 times. The average call was 14 minutes, and the longest, on 31 May, ran 65 minutes and cost $17.03 at the 1300 rate. The same call on a roaming plan would have been $65 to $195.
- Redials in clusters: the myGov callers dialled three to five times within an hour: a short call, a long one, a short one. That is the shape of being cut off or transferred, not of five separate questions. Each redial starts the queue again.
- The geographic lines work: the ATO's +61 2 6216 1111 was dialled eight times by four people, and Home Affairs' +61 2 6196 0196 three times, all at the landline rate and all connected.
- What failed: 16 attempts never connected, 12 of them on the caller's own connection before the call left the browser. The Australian network rejected three as “number not found”, which is what a mistyped 13 number produces.
The numbers to dial from abroad
Verified on each agency's own website in September 2026. Where an overseas line exists it is a normal +61 landline, cheaper and never blocked. Hours are Australian time; the east coast is AEST (UTC+10), AEDT (UTC+11) from October to April.
| Organisation | Inside Australia | Dial from abroad | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
myGov helpdesk (Services Australia) Seen in our logs: 4 callers from Germany, India, Thailand and the US; 15 calls, average 14 min, longest 65 min | 132 307, option 1 | +61 1300 169 468, option 11300 number, shared-cost rate | Mon to Fri 7am to 10pm, Sat and Sun 10am to 5pm, local Australian time |
Australian Taxation Office Seen in our logs: 4 callers, 8 calls to the overseas line; linking myGov to the ATO: +61 2 6216 3444 | 13 28 61 | +61 2 6216 1111geographic line, landline rate | Mon to Fri 8am to 5pm AEST |
Centrelink and Medicare (Services Australia international) Seen in our logs: 1 caller; Services Australia also lists free numbers for specific countries | 132 300 (Centrelink), 132 011 (Medicare) | +61 3 6222 3455geographic line, landline rate | Mon to Fri 8am to 5pm AEST (AEDT in summer) |
Department of Home Affairs (visas, citizenship) Seen in our logs: 1 caller, 3 calls; option 6 gets an interpreter | 131 881 | +61 2 6196 0196geographic line, landline rate | Mon to Fri 9am to 5pm, local Australian time |
Australian Passport Office / Consular Emergency Centre Seen in our logs: Not in our logs; listed because it is the line Australians abroad need most | 131 232 | +61 2 6261 3305geographic line, landline rate | Passports in office hours; consular emergencies 24 hours |
ANZ (bank) Seen in our logs: 1 caller, 7 calls to the 1800 line, average 14 min | 1800 033 844 | +61 3 9683 9999geographic line, landline rate | Fraud and cards 24 hours; general enquiries daytime Sydney time |
Services Australia also publishes free or local-rate numbers inside a number of countries for Centrelink international enquiries; its international phone numbers page lists them. If your country is on it, that route is cheaper; the +61 3 line is for everyone else.
Why the call drops, fails, or never rings
- You added or removed a zero. Australian 13 and 1300 numbers have no trunk zero. +61 1300 169 468 is right; +61 01300 and +61 300 are not.
- Your carrier refuses the range. Some foreign carriers and free-call apps do not route +61 13 or +61 1800 at all. Use the geographic line from the table, or a dialer that lists the range with a rate.
- The queue timed out your app. Free-call services cap calls at a few minutes; a 30-minute Centrelink hold does not fit. See what free-call services actually allow.
- The keypad menu ignores you. Every Australian government line starts with “press 1 for…”. Touch tones over a weak Wi-Fi link are lost; move closer to the router and use the dialer's on-screen keypad.
- It is the middle of the night in Canberra. Most lines close at 5pm AEST, which is 8am in London and 3am in New York.
When to call: 8am to 5pm AEST from your time zone
| Where you are | 8am to 5pm AEST is |
|---|---|
| London, Dublin | 11pm to 8am |
| Berlin, Paris, Rome | midnight to 9am |
| Dubai | 2am to 11am |
| Mumbai, Delhi | 3:30am to 12:30pm |
| Bangkok, Jakarta | 5am to 2pm |
| Singapore, Manila | 6am to 3pm |
| New York, Toronto | 6pm to 3am (previous day) |
| Los Angeles, Vancouver | 3pm to midnight (previous day) |
From Europe that means a late night or a very early morning; from the Americas an evening. The myGov helpdesk is the exception, open until 10pm Australian time on weekdays, which is lunchtime in London. Add an hour to everything from October to April when Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra move to daylight time.
Before you call: a 60-second checklist
- Customer reference number, tax file number or passport number in front of you. Australian agencies verify identity before they say anything.
- Linked myGov? Half the calls to the myGov helpdesk are about linking services. Try the myGov app's help first; if you still need the phone, the ATO has its own linking line at +61 2 6216 3444, at the landline rate.
- Note the time and the officer's name. Decisions on payments and visas are appealable, and the timestamp is the anchor.
- Ask for a receipt number. Services Australia and Home Affairs both issue one; the ATO gives a reference on request.
- Transcribe it. BubblyPhone can transcribe the call for a cent a minute, so the promise about your payment date is written down.
Frequently Asked Questions
Need an Australian helpline from overseas?
Call any Australian landline, mobile, 13, 1300 or 1800 number from your browser over Wi-Fi, by the minute, with a real caller ID and no cap that cuts you off mid-hold. Your first minute is free.
Related guides
- Australia country code +61: area codes, mobile formats and how to dial.
- Free ways to call Australia and the apps that are genuinely free.
- UK 0344 and 0345 numbers from abroad and US 1-800 numbers from outside the US: the same problem in two other countries.
- Calling an embassy or consulate: when the passport line is the one you need.