Sunrise presenter Nat Barr has taken aim at the “frustrating” $96.5 million cost of the Bureau of Meteorology’s new website, challenging the federal government over how such a price could be justified.

The bureau’s chief executive, Stuart Minchin – just two weeks into the role – revealed the full cost in an open letter. 

During a morning segment with Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, Barr pressed for answers.

“Can you justify spending almost $100m for a new website that nobody asked for?” Barr asked.

Plibersek, who previously oversaw the BOM as environment minister from 2022 until earlier this year, criticised the project’s outcome, noting the website took six years to build but failed to deliver.

“I don’t think the new website has been a good exercise for the Bureau of Meteorology,” Plibersek told Sunrise.

“An unpopular website that doesn’t tell people the weather, well, that’s not really delivering, is it?”

Public frustration has centred on the site’s radar system, which has since been adjusted to give users an option to view the former radar visuals.

The final cost represents a dramatic escalation from the $4.1 million initially referenced when the website launched in October. 

Minchin clarified that the $4.1 million figure covered only the front-end redesign, while the remaining funds accounted for the “significant investment required to fully rebuild and test the systems and technology that underpin the website”.

This included extensive back-end development and testing of scientific systems used by meteorologists to generate forecasts.

Minchin added that $12 million of the total spend was allocated to security testing, “making sure it is secure and stable and can draw in the huge amounts of data gathered from our observing network and weather models”.

Plibersek later reinforced the need for a comprehensive system rebuild, citing serious risks identified under the previous government.

“The reason the whole back end of the system has had to be rebuilt is because the previous government had information that it was very vulnerable to attack. Now, you can imagine a cyber attack takes out all of our weather information as a storm is approaching, that is a very serious risk to Australians’ safety,” she said.

Barr then questioned whether such a costly overhaul would have required ministerial approval.

“The Bureau of Meteorology is obviously an organisation whose budget the government has oversight of. They also have to show up to senate estimates, and they have to turn up to parliament,” Plibersek said, adding that there had been recent revelations that had “surprised everyone”.

Joyce condemned the situation entirely.

“We spent $96m to put a B at the end of the BOM site. It’s now a bomb. It’s hopeless,” he said.

“It infuriated so many farmers and the people who worked it because we really liked the old site.

“Now we’ve got this fiasco, and we find out it’s cost us $96m to stuff something up completely.”

The BOM website remains one of Australia’s most heavily visited platforms, drawing millions of users daily.

Murray Watt, who succeeded Plibersek in the portfolio, said he had already met with both the acting and newly appointed chief executives to address concerns.

“I met with him on his very first day to outline my concerns and my request for him to get on top of this,” he said.

“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 and has staff that I very much support.”

Minchin confirmed that a refreshed version of the website is expected to go live this week, after an earlier update was delayed due to Tropical Cyclone Fina impacting the Top End.

He stressed that restoring public confidence was essential.

“I have seen up close the dedication and expertise of our people working to deliver timely forecasts, warnings, updates and briefings that we all rely on,” he said.

“I’m personally committed to ensuring the new site supports all sectors of the community with the information needed to make decisions, both for safety and daily planning.”

Images: Sunrise