Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will support the Meteorology Amendment (Online Advertising) Bill, which gives effect to decisions taken under the previous Labor government. The Bureau of Meteorology is an Australian institution, providing valuable information on weather and weather patterns all the year round, as well as vital updates on information during extreme weather events—something we all very much value. It helps us make decisions like whether to take an umbrella as we leave the house, right through to when we plant crops and when to move out of the path of a devastating cyclone. Its services help families and individuals right through to emergency services.

The bureau is also vital to our economy—some 3.4 per cent of Australia's GDP is climate sensitive, covering almost every economic sector. The aviation industry alone is heavily reliant on the bureau's services. There are around 1.7 million passenger movements every single week, and every single service is reliant on accurate weather forecasting services. We do know there is always room for improvement, and the review of the bureau's extreme weather and seasonal forecasting capacity—known as the Munro review—was undertaken in response to extreme weather events in the 2010-11 summer. Senators will recall the events of the 2010-11 summer—there was severe flooding, there were several intense tropical cyclones and there were bushfires in Western Australia. Again in the summer of 2012-13 we had heatwaves and Tropical Cyclone Oswald

The bureau's services also worked on providing potential tsunami warnings as a result of earthquakes across the Pacific.

During these times of intense activity, the bureau's capacity was stretched and tested. These capacity issues are still likely to be tested by climate change as it increases the severity of extreme weather events. The then Labor government's initial response was quick. Funding was provided to retain international meteorologists and recruit and train graduate meteorologists. The Munro review also recommended that advertising be considered as an option for raising revenue, so Labor acted on the recommendation by announcing a 12-month trial in 2012-13 and advertising became a permanent feature of the bureau website in the 2013 budget.

The Bureau of Meteorology had over 500 million visits in 2013. It is one of the most visited websites in Australia. From these half a billion visits, almost three billion pages of information were downloaded. Allowing the bureau to place paid advertising on its website, with the right safeguards, will allow it to cover some of the costs of its operations. I think it is also worth remembering that the bureau would not be the first national forecasting service to carry paid advertising. It is already done in Canada, the UK, New Zealand, France and Denmark. We are not entering uncharted territory at all here. It is already done in other countries and it has been trialled here in Australia. This bill formalises the ability of the Bureau of Meteorology to place paid advertising and ensures that guidelines are in place so that advertising is appropriate. Labor is a strong supporter of the bureau and supports measures that increase its capacity to serve the Australian people and the Australian economy. We believe this bill serves this end and therefore Labor will be supporting this bill.