No Dick, it is not a make jobs system and is more efficient than twenty odd years ago.
AUSsar is part of the AMSA. AUSsar is responsible for all land, sea and air searches. These often cross over. E.g., an aircraft crashing into the sea. In the past, each FIR had its own Operations Control Center with a Searchmaster trainee SOC who was responsible for all searches within that FIR. At any one time, most towers and FS stations would have had at least one SARTIME aircraft strip on the board. In the event of a missed position report or SARTIME cancellation, the TWR/FSS would initiate action. If communications checks were not successful, a SAR phase would be declared and the SOC advised who would take over the SAR process. This was very cumbersome.
Now, instead of numerous TWRs/FSS having to monitor SARTIMEs and half a dozen individual search centres, it is all done by AUSsar.
As for leaving a note with a friend/relative or other, that has its problems. Try getting someone unfamiliar with aviation to explain the planned flight to AUSsar.