Editorial: Weather bureau must do better with site redesign

The Bureau of Meteorology needs to act quickly to restore confidence in its newly designed website, writes the editor.

For any large organisation, changing your website – your portal to the world – is fraught with danger.

Humans are essentially creatures of habit, and we generally resist change unless we can see the benefits and the reasons for the changes are clearly explained clearly to us.

None of which seems to have happened when the Bureau of Meteorology decided to update the (admittedly clunky) site that millions of Australians use, not just to decide if they should pack an umbrella but also to keep safe from the extremes of Australian weather.

There was no publicity as the new $4.1m site was launched last week – no TV campaign or newspaper ads explaining the changes and inviting feedback – and the timing was interesting, as it came as storm season arrived in northern Australia.

And right on cue, South East Queensland was hit by violent thunderstorms on Sunday and record October temperatures yesterday, prompting many people to use the website for the first time since the upgrade.

They weren’t impressed, with even one of the BOM’s own meteorologists admitting that he doesn’t like the site.

This week’s weather is just a taste of what we can expect over summer, and the BOM now needs to act quickly to restore confidence in the site.

There is too much at stake if it gets this wrong.

PUSHBACK FOR BIG TECH

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has proven before he is willing to take on the multibillion-dollar tech giants.

In a few weeks Australia’s world-leading laws restricting under-16s from accessing social media will come into effect.

Mr Albanese introduced the legislation after extensive media coverage – particularly The Courier-Mail’s Let Them Be Kids campaign (in conjunction with our sister papers) – exposed the mental, physical and emotional harm social media was doing to the nation’s children.

The significance of the legislation means the world will be watching us on December 10.

Those same world leaders are paying close attention after the Prime Minister once again went in to bat for Australians and stood up to global tech.

This time it was to protect content creators – musicians, artists, journalists, authors and others – by rejecting an audacious push by tech giants for a so-called “text and data mining exception” that would allow them to train their artificial intelligence systems to rip off anyone’s content.

What that means is that big tech wanted to take whatever content it wanted – songs, stories, news articles, videos and other creative content – without having to pay or even ask permission, all so it could fuel its extremely lucrative AI models.

For artists, songwriters and entertainment creators, the Prime Minister’s pushback means crucially that their content remains their own, they retain creative control, terms of use and payment.

And for the news media it means we can continue to pay journalists to tell the stories that matter, to hold the powerful to account and advocate for our communities for a better Australia.

As News Corp Australia (publisher of The Courier-Mail) executive chairman Michael Miller said in welcoming the laws: “The government’s announcement is a welcome catalyst for tech and AI companies to license Australian content.

“The announcement secures a sustainable and thriving future for Australia’s culture, news media and creative sectors, guaranteeing that Australian stories will continue to resonate powerfully at home and across the world, which is vital for a robust democracy.”

Both Mr Albanese and his Attorney-General Michelle Rowland – the same duo who passed the social media laws last December when Ms Rowland was communications minister – need to be congratulated for their tough tech stance.

For too long these multibillion-dollar companies have got away with far too much – not paying their fair share of tax, putting children in harm’s way via their powerful money-making algorithms, and refusing to adhere to the same rules and practices as every other business operating in this country.

In announcing the government would not support the changes to Australia’s copyright laws, Ms Rowland said the tech industry and creative sector needed to come together to find sensible and workable solutions to support innovation while ensuring creators are compensated.

That’s true, but the government still has a critical role to play in continuing to hold these behemoths to account and force them to pay for the content they use.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here