The Bureau of Meteorology chief came under fire during a heated estimates hearing on Friday when one senator unleashed his colleagues’ “fury” on the weather boss.
BoM CEO Dr Andrew Johnson was hauled back before the Senate environment and communications legislation committee on Friday after he failed to answer questions about the office and its nearly $1 billion IT upgrade to early this year.
Tasmanian senator Jonathon Duniam acknowledged the weather chief had apologized for his “unwillingness to provide information” and then lashed out at Dr Johnson for angering senators.
“You realize that in your performance, not only in the latest estimates but also in the previous ones, you managed to unite all the members of this committee in fury at your unwillingness to answer questions,” he said.
‘I have a hard time losing my temper, and last time I did. I don’t want to have to do it again. I don’t think this committee wants to find itself in the same situation.’
The BoM faced criticism over the cost of its Robust IT project, which was launched after a cybersecurity breach and major outages in 2015 and 2016.
The project was completed in June of this year with a budget outlay of $150 million, costing taxpayers $866 million.
That investment, equivalent to about $123 million a year, allowed for the purchase of new IT infrastructure, networks and data centers, a new supercomputer for backup and disaster recovery, improved security, a new website and a standard operating environment.
The Bureau of Meteorology upgraded its computer systems and climate measurement technology at a cost of almost $1 billion to the Australian taxpayer between 2015 and 2023 (file image)
The price also paid for major improvements in observing systems, including new and improved radars, automated weather balloon launchers, flood warning equipment and associated communications networks, and improved technology for space weather and flood forecasting.
In addition to the huge bill for the technological upgrade, the BOM was also criticized for having a toxic work culture and for misinterpreting important weather events.
The Australian Financial Review reported that farmers lost millions when they sold livestock last summer after the Met Office forecast a major drought warning that led to a wet summer.
The bureau also claimed rainfall would ease before massive rainfall flooded parts of northern Queensland.
Tasmanian senator Jonathon Duniam told the Bureau of Meteorology chief he had angered senators by his unwillingness to answer questions.
Dr Johnson told the committee that the program met 90 per cent of its scope and that the technology deployed was now more secure, stable and resilient as a result of the IT project.
“Robust has also delivered a new disaster recovery supercomputer and new and improved software applications that support critical services such as floods, storms and tropical cyclones,” he said.
“He has also created a new office website which is currently being trialled by the Australian community.”
Dr Johnson said the program had gone about 10 per cent over budget, which was within reasonable tolerances given the unforeseen impacts of Covid on costs, supply chains and the movement of people.
Bureau of Meteorology director Dr Andrew Johnson was criticized for the cost of his Robust IT programme, which cost taxpayers $866 million.
He added that funds allocated in the 2021 budget would pay for any transition work to sustain the benefits of the program.
“No new funding will be requested for this transition work during its lifetime. Robust has been subject to a comprehensive assurance and review program at the most recent entry review carried out in September 2024,” it said.
“The panel concluded that Robust has been successful, that its governance has been very effective and that its performance was considerably better than other comparable government programs. Robust is ‘good news’.”
Dr. Johnson said that as a result of the project, the office’s system was more secure and less vulnerable to attacks from entities whose interests were not aligned with those of the nation.
“Unfortunately we are under constant attacks by these entities,” he said.
He told the committee there would be fewer network outages and they could respond more quickly to outages with less impact on the community.
“Whether it’s forecast warnings or space weather imagery or any radar, whatever it is, we have the ability to recover quickly,” he said.
‘The second disaster recovery super computer is a great intervention to mitigate risk, but also a national asset that we are working more widely with the Australian scientific community to make available for other uses.
“A lot of new equipment has been incorporated, new radars, new flood gauges, balloon launches that take profiles through the atmosphere,
‘We have better, more reliable data and better forecasts and warnings that we can offer to the community.
“We have also updated many of our programs and other applications, such as our new tropical cyclone warning service, our new flood warning capability, our flood warning capability and our tsunami warning capability.”
