The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is upgrading its observation system from manual observation to a fully automated system, and is phasing out the role of weather observers right across its network.

This means Mackay and Townsville will lose their local BoM staff.

The BoM says that those currently employed as weather observers will be retrained as technicians to ensure the automated system is running smoothly.  However, all current BoM observers, in fact all BoM staff in the Mackay and Townsville facilities, will be relocated to Brisbane or Cairns, leaving no technicians near any BoM facility along a near 1700 kilometre stretch of the Queensland coastline including communities in the tropical north and central Queensland cyclone belt. 

Mackay staff are scheduled to be relocated later in 2016 after the Mackay observation system is fully automated.  Townsville staff will be relocated in 2018 when fully automated.

And that is a worry for Mackay and Townsville residents.

It is a real concern that in times of extreme weather, there may be no technicians to access Mackay and Townsville BoM facilities.  That’s why staff at these facilities should be retained. 

We need better services

Mackay has the only part-time radar on the east coast of Queensland, which means it drops out for 1.5 hours, 6 times per day.  In one instance, the radar dropped out for 72 hours.  Mackay is located in the ‘cyclone belt’ of the Queensland coast, so this is totally unacceptable and the radar should be upgraded immediately to a full-time dedicated weather watch system.  

You can help by signing the petition

We call on the Australian Government and the Bureau of Meteorology to ensure that staff are retained at regional Bureau of Meteorology facilities in Mackay and Townsville and we ask that the part-time radar system in Mackay be upgraded to a full-time dedicated weather watch system.