Calling 1300 from Overseas

Calling an Australian 1300 number from overseas hits a wall, and it is worth understanding why the wall is there: the 1300 range is part of Australia's domestic network. International dialling expects a country code and a route the foreign network can reach, and the 1300 range is not published for that — so the number as printed will normally fail before cost or language ever matters.

If you are the caller: the workaround that works

You cannot dial the 1300 directly, but you can almost always reach the business:

1. Check the business's website for a geographic number — an ordinary Australian landline number starting with an area code (02, 03, 07, 08).
2. Dial it in international format: your country's exit code, then +61, then the area code without its leading zero, then the number. A Melbourne number (03) 9123 4567 becomes +61 3 9123 4567.
3. No geographic number published? Use the contact form or email and ask for a callback — most businesses will ring an overseas number on request.
4. Expect your own international rates to apply on the +61 call; the 1300 local-rate deal never crosses the border anyway.

The country-specific versions of this question — Malaysia and the general cost picture in are 1300 numbers free from overseas — carry the same answer in more detail.

If you are the business: publish both doors

Nothing about a 1300 number needs to change for it to keep doing its domestic job. What changes is what sits beside it:

• Within Australia: 1300 XXX XXX — one national, local-rate line for domestic customers.
• From overseas: +61 X XXXX XXXX — a geographic number in international format, published next to the 1300 in the footer, on the contact page and in email signatures.

Two lines of contact details prevent every failed overseas call, and the +61 number routes through your systems like any other — the same call handling applies behind both front doors. The domestic mechanics are in how 1300 numbers work in Australia, and the product overview at 1300 numbers.