The Bureau of Meteorology’s unpopular new website cost millions of dollars more than previously reported, with the agency’s new chief revealing the price tag for the heavily criticised redesign was actually $96 million, 24 times more than previously stated.
In his first interview since stepping into the role two weeks ago, new bureau chief Dr Stuart Minchin said he intended to be transparent and admit mistakes the agency made, after its website changes were lambasted as destructive storms hit south-east Australia last month.
Previous media reports revealed that the website, criticised as difficult to navigate and over changes to its radar map that made place names difficult to read, had cost significantly more than the $4.1 million originally stated by the bureau, as this figure did not include a $78 million website design contract for private consultancy Accenture Australia.
But Minchin said the total cost of the redesign, completed under former chief Dr Andrew Johnson, was even higher than reported. “I’ve looked into it. The total cost, when you add the Accenture work, the security testing and everything else, it’s about $96 million,” he said.
Bureau of Meteorology chief executive Stuart Minchin.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Environment Minister Murray Watt responded to the hefty price tag, but said he was confident in Minchin’s new leadership.
“I think the BOM has got some explaining to do about that. We do have a new CEO of the BOM who only started two weeks ago after this all occurred. I met with him on his very first day. I’ve met with him since, so twice in his first fortnight, and made very clear to him that I want him to get on top of the issues around the website, not just continue making changes to make it more usable but get on top of how we got to this situation in the first place,” he told ABC Radio National this morning.
Speaking earlier on ABC TV, Watt said: “I was actually really heartened by the interview he provided [to this masthead] on the weekend where he acknowledged that there does need to be more transparency from the BOM… I’m looking forward to a bit of a change in the culture and the approach of the BOM, and I want to make very clear that it’s an institution that I very much support.”
Read climate and energy correspondent Mike Foley’s full report on the BoM website costings here.