Our purpose

Our purpose is defined by our mission:

To provide trusted, reliable and responsive weather, water, climate and ocean services for Australia—all day, every day.

To achieve our purpose—across the domains of weather, water, climate and oceans—we:

• monitor and report on current conditions;
• provide forecasts, warnings and long-term outlooks;
• analyse and explain trends;
• foster greater public understanding and use of the information we provide; and
• continue to extend our understanding of, and ability to forecast, Australian conditions.

Authority

The Bureau operates under the authority of the Meteorology Act 1955 and the Water Act 2007. The Bureau is an Executive Agency under the Public Service Act 1999, and a non-corporate entity under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. The Meteorology Act 1955 requires the Bureau to fulfil Australia’s international obligations under the Convention of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and related international treaties and agreements.

Portfolio and Ministers

The Bureau operates within the Environment and Energy Portfolio reporting to the Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Sussan Ley MP. On water-related matters, the Bureau reports to the Minister for Water Resources, Drought, Rural Finance, Natural Disaster and Emergency Management, the Hon. David Littleproud MP.

Funding basis

The Bureau receives the majority of its funding from the Australian Government ($231.658 million in 2018–19). Additional revenue ($93.197 million in 2018–19) was derived from other sources, including the sale of goods and services. More information is provided in the Financial resource management chapter and in the Environment and Energy Portfolio Budget Statements 2018–19.

Under the Portfolio Budget Statements, the Bureau is responsible to the Australian Government for delivering the following outcome:

Informed safety, security and economic decisions by governments, industry, and the community through the provision of information, forecasts, services and research relating to weather, climate and water.

Our staff

As at 30 June 2019, the Bureau had 1425 ongoing and 183 non-ongoing staff, as well as 229 paid and over 5000 volunteer observers who help maintain Australia’s climate record. More information can be found in the People management chapter.

Bureau staff are located across Australia, on remote islands and in Antarctica. The Bureau’s administrative and operational headquarters are in Melbourne. We observe and forecast from the Antarctic to north of the equator, and from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. More information on the location of our staff and services is provided in the Agency overview.

Our values

The values that guide our behaviours are:

• safety;
• customer focus;
• passion and tenacity;
• responsibility;
• humility; and
• integrity.

More information on the Bureau's values can be found in the Agency overview.