Bureau of Meteorology apologises for new website and promises changes after ‘flawed’ update

The Bureau of Meteorology has apologised for unpopular changes to its website and said “adjustments” will be made, after its top brass was hauled in by the environment minister following negative public feedback. Changes to the website’s design and accessibility have been criticised by many users online, with minister Murray Watt saying the website was “not meeting many users’ expectations” and the federal opposition saying it had affected the ability of Queenslanders to prepare for recent rain events. The BoM’s CEO, Dr Peter Stone, said he recognised the unpopularity of the changes. “We didn’t make the change lightly and we appreciate that it will take time for some to adjust. I sincerely apologise for the challenges the change has caused,” he said in a statement on Wednesday. “It’s clear we need to do more to help people through the change, both by making adjustments to the website and by helping users to understand its new features.” Stone said forecasts, warnings and public safety information had not been affected by the rollout, and maintained the changes had made that data more prominent and easier to find. But he conceded updates would be made. “We are listening and welcome your feedback on the new site… We are moving quickly to act on the feedback received, and I am confident the community will start to see more improvements in the coming weeks,” he said. “New content, features and upgrades will continue to be rolled out through regular releases, based on feedback.” Watt said on Tuesday he’d met with Stone after public concerns about the website. Sign up: AU Breaking News email “It’s clear that the new BOM website is not meeting many users’ expectations, with a significant range of feedback provided to the Bureau in recent days,” he said in a statement. Related: ‘Your new website sucks’: Bureau of Meteorology redesign is lightning rod for heated criticism “I made clear my expectations that the BoM needed to consider this feedback and, where appropriate, adjust the website’s settings as soon as possible.” Watt said Stone had taken the feedback on, and said his ministerial office would stay on the case if users remained unhappy. “Australians deserve to have confidence in these important services … I strongly encourage Australians to continue to provide feedback to the BoM, to ensure changes can be made where needed.” The Queensland’s premier, David Crisafulli, took aim at the new website on Tuesday for failing to allow Brisbane and surrounding residents to prepare for last weekend’s storms. Speaking in state parliament on Tuesday morning, he called the $4m update “flawed” and said “preparation was key” to mitigate damage from natural disasters. “The changes to the federally run Bureau of Meteorology website are not good enough. The changes to the website don’t make sense. The website is flawed. Easy access to individual radars have been removed,” Crisafulli said. “The colour scheme we became accustomed to has changed, and platitudes from Canberra won’t cut it with Queenslanders.” The state’s treasurer, David Janetzki, confirmed he had written to Watt to raise “significant concerns” with the overhaul. The federal Nationals leader, David Littleproud, raised similar concerns, saying people in his rural Queensland electorate “were not given the information they needed after the recent rain event”. In a statement on Wednesday, he said constituents had reported that the website was difficult to navigate and that finding the radar function was hard. He called for a review of the new site, and demanded improvements to the service. “I am hearing from many locals that the new platform no longer allows them to enter GPS coordinates for their specific property locations, restricting searches to towns or postcodes,” Littleproud said. “As a result, families, businesses and farmers are unable to access vital, localised data such as river heights and rainfall information. “Given the critical importance of accurate and accessible weather and water data, especially as we approach the wet season and in the aftermath of the devastating floods experienced in April this year, I have asked Minister Watt to review the functionality of the updated BoM website and consider restoring key tools relied upon by farmers and rural communities.” The site’s first redesign in 12 years, according to the Bureau’s senior meteorologist, Andrea Peace, raised the ire of some users, who quickly took to social media to tell the bureau just what they thought of the change, describing it as confusing, clunky and “really, really bad”. Rain radars, weather maps, MetEye, industry pages, specialised forecasts and historical data can be found via tabs and buttons on the main page, some of which link back to the former site while pages are still being migrated across. The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, was asked why, after the Bureau said it had received positive feedback over 18 months of consultation, the public reception had been so bad. “Minister Watt’s made clear that it’s not gone to his satisfaction as the responsible minister,” Bowen told ABC’s RN Breakfast on Wednesday. “The Bureau clearly has work to do in that it has lost community confidence in the new website.”