The newly-minted boss of Australia's national weather agency has tried to shut down a brewing political storm, defending its $96.5 million website overhaul.
Bureau of Meteorology chief executive Stuart Minchin, who is two weeks into the job, defended the cost on Tuesday, saying the website redesign was part of a broader system overhaul, prompted by a 2015 cyber attack.
He says improvements are underway to help users navigate the site, including a new rain radar shortcut expected to appear on the home page by the end of the week.
"(The cost) has been quite open within the bureau and it's part of a larger program," Mr Minchin told ABC Radio National on Tuesday.
"I can commit that that I am taking the helm of the bureau, I wanted to make that as transparent as possible and be open and honest with the Australian people."
The eye-watering $96.5 million price tag drew heavy criticism after the agency had previously stated the redesign cost just $4.1 million.
Mr Minchin acknowledged there had been miscommunication with the cost that had led to a negative public perception.
Murray Watt, who has ministerial responsibility for the agency, said he had met with Mr Minchin to reset expectations and get on top of the issue.
However, Mr Minchin confirmed on Tuesday that the cost was approved by the Turnbull government in 2017.
The entire system had to be replaced following a 2015 hacking incident carried out by foreign cyber spies, he said.
"It has repeatedly been part of the budget updates. The website component is about 10 per cent of a much larger program replacing all of the bureau's back end systems and processes," Mr Minchin said.
"That has been visible to the government all the way through."
The bureau's new-look "modern and sleek" site launched on October 22 but quickly came under fire after savage storms left a trail of destruction across the eastern seaboard.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, who served as deputy prime minister in 2017, took aim at the redesign, saying it wasn't good enough.
"We spent $96 million 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."
The BOM website is one of the most popular in Australia, with millions visiting each day for their weather forecasts.
Its new website aimed to feature design and functionality improvements to the most used pages, including forecasts, observations and weather warnings.
