Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister Representing the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. I ask this in a week when a category 5 cyclone has travelled down the entire coast of Queensland. Minister, is it true that the Bureau of Meteorology in Townsville will be losing 50 per cent of its forecasters and 25 per cent of its observers? Is it true that the Townsville office will now not be able to maintain a 24-hour service? Is it also true that staff in the Cairns meteorology office in Far North Queensland are being cut from 12 to 10? Is it also true that the Mount Isa office will now become a one-person office? Is it true that the Mackay office is being cut from three staff to one staff? Is it true that the Rockhampton office is being cut from six to five?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question. These were issues he canvassed at some length in the Senate estimates hearing. My recollection was that the Bureau of Meteorology made very clear that they were ensuring that services would be continued and that there would be a continuation of all bureau offices in regional areas. We on this side are committed to ensuring that the bureau will continue to deliver a high standard of climate monitoring, as well as good value for money on behalf of the community. As the Prime Minister has indicated, the bureau will also continue to provide the meteorological services that it has in the past, including the continuation of all offices in regional areas.

I am advised that the bureau’s operational plan will allow it to meet these objectives, to respond to the specific requirements and priorities of major user groups and to build on the capabilities of new technology, including the automation of some tasks. These issues, as I said, were canvassed quite extensively in the Senate estimates hearings. I refer Senator Macdonald to the very detailed answers which were provided by bureau staff on that occasion.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Minister, how can the Bureau of Meteorology possibly maintain the services in this cyclone-prone area of Queensland when staff numbers are being cut by 50 per cent and when the Townsville office will now no longer be a 24-hour operation? I also ask the minister to explain how, when staff in the Mackay office are being cut from three to one, it can possibly provide the same services as cyclones pass by or through that community. How can Rockhampton, where the Prime Minister promised there would be no reduction in services, maintain services with such a savage reduction in staff numbers?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, there are a range of propositions in those questions from the senator which really echo the same political points he was seeking to make in the estimates hearings. I again refer him to the evidence that was given by the bureau and to the fact, as I have said again on this occasion, that the Prime Minister has indicated that the bureau will continue to provide the meteorological services that it has in the past and this includes the continuation of all bureau offices in regional areas. The operational plan of the Bureau of Meteorology is consistent with those commitments.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Minister, do you think that all of us who live in North Queensland and are worried about this are simply making political points? What representations has the minister received from the Queensland Labor government about these savage job losses in meteorology and the loss of services in areas of Queensland which as recently as this week have experienced cyclones, floods and other weather conditions which even the minister herself has said will become more volatile with climate change? Can the minister point to anything the Bligh government in Queensland has done to ensure that meteorological jobs in North and Central Queensland are maintained? If she can point to anything, why then hasn’t the federal government acted upon those representations?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the only person I suggested was making political points was the good senator. I note that he seems very keen to be running the Liberal National Party campaign for the Queensland election here in this chamber. In terms of the actual issues in question, I have provided an answer on them. As I said, we extensively canvassed these issues in estimates. I repeat for the senator’s benefit that the bureau will continue to provide the services that it has in the past and this includes a continuation of all bureau offices in regional areas.