BOM‘s New Boss Tasked with Reviewing $96.5m Website Bill
CANBERRA – The Bureau of Meteorology’s (BOM) newly appointed boss, Dr. robert Tapper, has been asked to examine the $96.5 million bill for the recent website redesign, following revelations of escalating costs and functionality issues. Surroundings Minister Murray Watt has directed the bureau to rectify problems with the new website after widespread complaints.
the controversy centres on a contract initially valued at $78 million awarded to a private consultancy for the website’s redesign. However, the final cost to Australian taxpayers reached $96.5 million when security and system testing were included. Nationals leader David Littleproud has called for “consequences” over the expenditure, labelling the project “another Labor disaster.”
Concerns extend beyond the financial cost, with critics highlighting critical functionality removed in the new design. The platform initially lacked the ability for users to input GPS coordinates for precise location-based data, limiting searches to towns or postcodes.This restriction prevented families and farmers from accessing vital, localised information, including river heights and rainfall data, causing “panic and fear across communities,” according to critics.
“The seriousness of this cannot be understated. This isn’t just about a clunky website, the changes actually put lives and safety at risk,” a statement attributed to a source familiar with the matter said.
Further scrutiny has focused on initial discrepancies in reporting the total project cost,raising questions about transparency within the BOM. The bureau’s core function, critics argue, relies on public trust, which has been undermined by the handling of the website redesign and associated cost disclosures.