Statement from the Bureau of Meteorology

26/10/2022

The Bureau of Meteorology is Australia’s most trusted source of reliable and responsive weather forecasts.

Our focus is always on supporting the safety, security and prosperity of the Australian community. Our round the clock efforts to help inform Australians who have experienced the devastating impacts of severe weather in recent days, months and years is testament to our commitment.

In recent days, a number of inaccurate statements have been made about our organisation, which we want to address in honour of the professionalism and dedication of our team, and our deep respect for the position of trust we have within the community

The Bureau provides one of the most widely used services of government. Our team provides this essential service 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, covering 11 per cent of the globe from the tropics to Antarctica. Over the past five years, we have delivered these services without interruption despite the many challenges that COVID has presented.

The accuracy of the Bureau’s weather model ranks consistently in the top five in the world. Our forecasts and warnings have never been more accurate and timely, and we provide more services to the community than we have at any time in our 114-year history.

Over the past five years, we have introduced a range of new services to make our country safer. These include a new thunderstorm asthma service to protect those vulnerable members of our community whose respiratory systems are compromised, new services to protect against heatwaves that kill hundreds of people every year, new tropical cyclone services to better advise the community of the strength and location of severe weather in the tropics, and most recently, improved fire weather services to enable the community and fire agencies to better prepare for and respond to bushfires that too often devastate our nation. We have also commenced the delivery of forecasts and warnings in the languages of First Nations people as well as Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Australians.

Recognising the increasing challenges of a changing climate, we are constantly improving our forecast and warning accuracy with new technology and scientific knowledge, and by learning from major weather events. The Bureau now has more meteorologists, hydrologists and climatologists than any other time in its history, and we are actively recruiting more, both in Australia and overseas. The skills and capabilities of our leadership teams represent the large, complex and multidisciplinary organisation that we are. They include internationally recognised meteorologists who bring decades of experience from the UK, Europe and North America.

Our knowledge and understanding of climate change is constantly evolving. For many years we have provided evidence that climate change is real and it is very likely human activities have caused most of the global warming we have observed since 1950.

In 2010, we established the first State of the Climate report with CSIRO to help Australia plan for and adapt to the changing nature of climate risk, including the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Our seventh State of the Climate report, to be released later this year, draws on the latest climate research encompassing observations, analyses and projections to describe year-to-year variability and longer-term changes in Australia’s climate.

This data and science informs the economic, environmental and social decisions of governments, industries and communities as they seek to respond to climate change.

Like any large organisation, there are times when we don’t get it right. Recent public commentary about the name of our organisation is no reflection on our capability and devotion to keeping Australians safe and informed.

Recent APS censuses, independent culture surveys, and organisational pulse checks of our entire team have reported a strong workplace and safety culture within our organisation. We know the changes we have been making to improve our services to the community have been challenging for some of our people. We continue to work hard and to invest in their ongoing welfare and development. We take all workplace issues seriously. We are committed to promoting a healthy and productive workplace and are continually looking at new ways to support our dedicated teams.

Our focus remains clear, to provide trusted, reliable and responsive weather, water, climate, ocean and space weather services for Australia – all day, every day. This is the Bureau Way.