Weather bureau faces cloud of questions

When the Bureau of Meteorology came under fire over the adequacy of its warnings for the 2022 Lismore floods, the biggest in modern Australian history, its hazard preparedness manager, Jane Golding, conceded that meteorology was an imprecise science.

We’ve all been caught out by the weather, but this week the bureau was reminded that timing announcements and changes to how such a crucial agency operates can be even more treacherous.

Rain, hail or shine, millions of Australians rely on the bureau’s forecasts.Credit: Jason South

Its attempt to proceed with a $220,000 rebrand of the organisation in October 2022, just as Victoria was being smashed by floods, drew criticism from across the spectrum. The bureau’s then-boss Andrew Johnson told a Senate committee that “like any large organisation, there are times when we don’t get it right”, but assured senators of “[our] devotion to keeping Australians safe and informed” and desire to avoid “confusion and uncertainty in the community”.

Johnson’s replacement as chief executive, Stuart Minchin, hasn’t quite got his feet under the desk – he was appointed this month, but his term begins on November 10. Had he started he would have found his inbox already crowded with confusion and uncertainty about the bureau’s revamped website, which our letter writers have described variously as “difficult to navigate”, “a bombsite”, “mindlessness” and “a fascinating big step forward”.

The change again comes at the time when weather usually makes news, from record October heat in parts of Queensland and NSW to storms in Melbourne and Brisbane. Our technology editor, David Swan, reports that beta testing for the new site ran for 15 months, but he questions its quality and targeting: “This wasn’t real-world testing; it was a voluntary opt-in for tech-savvy early adopters.” Those pining for the old website should know all is not lost: it’s still available at this address.

The new rain radar on the BOM website.Credit: Bureau of Meteorology

Complaints aimed at the new site – developed at a cost of $4.1 million – include that it does not allow those using the radar system images to look at future developments in storms, that its colour scheme for warnings has been abridged and that it is more difficult to find forecasts.

For a resource relied upon by millions of Australians and accessed billions of times a year, these problems could have real-world consequences. Some Queenslanders have already claimed the changes left them in the dark about this week’s wild weather. The state’s premier, David Crisafulli, said that “the changes to the website don’t make sense ... platitudes from Canberra won’t cut it with Queenslanders”.

And after days of criticism, it seemed federal Environment Minister Murray Watt agreed.

In a statement released late on Tuesday, Watt said he met the bureau’s acting chief executive, Peter Stone, earlier in the day to discuss the public’s response to the website.

“I made clear my expectations that the BOM needed to consider this feedback and, where appropriate, adjust the website’s settings as soon as possible,” he said. “This includes urgent consideration of improvements to the website’s functionality and useability.”

Watt said that Stone had reassured him that the bureau was considering this feedback and what could be changed, “while preserving the website’s reliability”.

The balance between a specialist audience heavily dependent on up-to-the-minute information and the public wondering how to dress on Cup Day or whether to put the washing out will always be difficult to strike. But the sheer volume of responses to this change suggests Queensland Treasurer David Janetzki – who wrote to Watt that “at its worst, [the decision to launch the new website in October] has put the lives and safety of Queenslanders at risk” – wasn’t the only one asking for a better explanation of what is going on.

We welcome the bureau’s commitment to look into what improvements can now be made – and Watt’s acknowledgment in his statement that the website is a vital tool to ensure public safety. Questions, of course, remain on what more could have been done to ensure the relaunch went more smoothly, especially at such a critical time of the year.

For an agency that has too often become a political football in the climate wars, it is vital that this episode ends in clearer skies – at least as far as the website goes.

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