BOM‘s New Boss Tasked withโข Reviewing $96.5m Website Bill
CANBERRA – โฃ The Bureau of Meteorology’s (BOM) newly โappointed boss, Dr. robert Tapper, has been asked to examine the $96.5โ million bill for the โคrecent website redesign,โ following revelationsโ of escalating costs and โขfunctionality issues.โ Surroundings Minister Murray Watt has directed the bureau to rectify problems โคwith โthe new website after widespreadโ complaints.
theโค controversy centres on a contract initially valued at $78 million awarded to a private consultancy for the website’s redesign. However, โขtheโ final cost toโ Australian taxpayers reached $96.5 million when security and system โtesting โฃwere โincluded. Nationals leader David Littleproud has โฃcalled for “consequences” over โthe expenditure, labelling the project “another Labor disaster.”
Concernsโฃ extend beyond the financial cost, with critics highlighting critical functionality removed in theโ newโค 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 preventedโ familiesโ and farmers from accessing vital, localised information, includingโ river heights and rainfall data, causing “panic and fear acrossโ communities,” according to critics.
“The seriousness of this cannotโข be understated. This isn’t justโ about a clunky website, the โchanges โactually put lives โคand safety atโฃ risk,” a statement attributed to a source familiar โขwith โขthe โคmatter said.
Further scrutiny has focused on initial discrepancies โin reporting the total project cost,raising questions aboutโ transparency โขwithin the BOM.โ The bureau’s โcore function, critics argue, relies on publicโ trust, which has been โคunderminedโ by theโ handling โคof the website redesign โand โคassociated cost disclosures.