The Boss Of BoM (Yes We’re Calling It That) Broke His Silence About Its Tornado-Sized Fk Up

The boss of the Bureau of Meteorology (the BoBoM if you will) has finally apologised for that whole rebrand debacle. Truly the messy binches of meteorology if you ask me.

In case you missed it, the BoM requested media stop calling it the BoM and instead start calling it by its full name or shortening it to The Bureau.

The whole situation was an absolute shitfight for a whole host of reasons: the BoM announced which Twitter handles it would be updating its accounts to without actually securing them first.

Which meant a bunch of punters on Twitter just… changed their usernames to the handles the BoM wanted.

Then it was revealed that the BoM actually paid comms companies $220,000 to help with the rebrand.

And in a cherry on top of the cyclone of chaos, the BoM said after all that, it was actually fine for people to call it whatever they like.

Backflipper of Meteorology, I say.

BoM’s chief exec Andrew Johnson apologised for the big sloppy mess at a Senate estimates hearing on Friday.

“Like any large organisation, there are times when we don’t get it right,” Johnson said, per SBS.

“Recent public commentary about the name of our organisation is no reflection whatsoever on our capability and devotion to keeping Australians informed.

“I sincerely apologise if this commentary has caused confusion or uncertainty in the community.”

He also said the attempted shift away from BoM wasn’t a name change or a rebrand. I have to say sir, it mighty felt like one.

“We have simply asked media outlets to refer to us by that name because we think that will increase the effectiveness of our readings and forecasts, particularly for at-risk communities,” he said.

Allegations were recently put forward by former staff that the Bureau has been reluctant to centre climate change. In an article by The Guardian for example, former BoM climate scientist Professor Scott Power claimed the agency had been “trying to keep the lowest profile it can get away with on climate change”.

Similarly, staff have alleged there was a “toxic work culture”.

During the Senate estimates hearing, Johnson said the BoM takes “all workplace issues seriously”. He then mentioned “ill-informed and inaccurate commentary” about the BoM’s climate change stance.

He also said that the Bureau’s focus was short-term events.

“We largely focus on phenomena that go from days through to months and our colleagues at the CSIRO focus on things that go from months through years,” he said.

Wow, who knew the weather could be so spicy.

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