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What smoke alarms does my state require?

Pick your state and what you are doing with the place. You get the type, the placement, the power and the wiring rule, each with its source.

The five things nearly every article gets wrong

“Australia requires photoelectric alarms.” Only Queensland and the Northern Territory mandate the type. Everywhere else the law is AS 3786, and that standard’s own title covers ionisation. Photoelectric is recommended in most states and required in two.
“You need one in every bedroom.” Only Queensland requires that. NSW, Victoria and Tasmania want them in hallways and on each storey. South Australia sets no prescriptive locations at all — its rule is performance-based.
“Alarms have to be interconnected.” Retrospectively, only in Queensland. Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the NT tie it to new builds or renovations from 1 May 2014; Western Australia from 1 May 2015. NSW does not require it at all.
“It is the seller’s job.” In South Australia the duty on a change of ownership falls on the buyer, within six months of title transfer.
“The ACT mandates photoelectric.” Several commercial sites say so. The ACT Emergency Services Agency page does not, and we could not confirm it anywhere official.

The one date that matters right now

1 January 2027, Queensland. Every existing private home, townhouse, unit and manufactured home needs interconnected photoelectric alarms by then. It is the end of a staged rollout that started on 1 January 2017, and it is the only retrofit deadline of its kind in the country.

Interconnection is the part that costs money, because it usually means an electrician. Queensland allows either hardwired alarms with a secondary power source, or non-removable 10-year battery alarms you can fit yourself — and the wireless interconnected battery type is why the second option exists.

Western Australia and the Northern Territory attach the duty to an event

Most states put the obligation on the dwelling. Western Australia puts it on the transaction: alarms must comply before transfer of ownership, rent or hire. The Northern Territory does something similar with alarm type — an old ionisation alarm can stay until it fails, unless the property is sold, rented, or the tenancy or hire agreement is renewed or extended, at which point it must be replaced with an approved photoelectric one.

If you are selling or letting in either place, this is a job to do before the listing, not after the building inspection.

What we could not confirm

Stated plainly, because a gap you cannot see is worse than one you can:

NSW power source and interconnection. The Fire and Rescue NSW law page is silent on both. We do not assert either way.
Sale rules for NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT. Nothing on the primary pages. Ask your conveyancer.
South Australian landlord duties. The state page would not render and the fire service PDF refused automated reading.
Queensland’s 1 January 2022 sale trigger. Widely repeated. We confirmed the 2017 start and the 2027 end from Queensland Fire, but not that middle date, so it is not on this page.

Pool fence rulesBarrier rules, registers and certificates by state. Solar install requirementsWho may install it, and who approves it. Check a tradie’s licenceEvery state’s register, and what to search. Electrical work needs a licenceThe national rule, whatever the job is worth.

General information for Australian homeowners and trades — not legal, planning or building advice, and not a substitute for your council or a building surveyor. Building and planning rules change, and your council can be stricter than the state rule. Every figure on this page carries the source it was read from and the date it was read; check it against that source before you rely on it. No regulator has reviewed this page. Yamate does not issue, lodge or approve anything.