{"id":"C1955A00006","name":"Meteorology Act 1955","slug":"meteorology-act-1955","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"6 of 1955","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":1285,"registerId":"C2014C00652","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2014-09-11","status":"InForce","reasons":[{"affect":"Amend","markdown":"sch 1 (items 1, 2, 4-12) of the [Meteorology Amendment (Online Advertising) Act 2014](/C2014A00102)","dateChanged":null,"amendedByTitle":null,"affectedByTitle":{"name":"Meteorology Amendment (Online Advertising) Act 2014","year":2014,"number":102,"titleId":"C2014A00102","provisions":"sch 1 (items 1, 2, 4-12)","seriesType":"Act","optionalSeriesNumber":null}}],"registeredAt":"2014-09-18T13:27:46.683Z"},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title","content":"#### 1 Short title\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Meteorology Act 1955.","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Interpretation","content":"#### 3 Interpretation\n\n  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:\n\n> the Bureau means the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology established by this Act.\n\n> the Director means the Director of Meteorology.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Extension to Territories","content":"#### 4 Extension to Territories\n\n  (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act extends to all the Territories.\n  (2) The Minister may, by notice published in the Gazette, declare that this Act, on a date specified in the notice, ceases to extend to a Territory specified in the notice.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"The Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology","content":"#### 5 The Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology\n\n  (1) For the purposes of this Act, there is to be a Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology and a Director of Meteorology.\n  (2) The Bureau is to be under the charge of the Director, who will, subject to the directions of the Minister, have the general administration of this Act.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":"Functions of the Bureau","content":"#### 6 Functions of the Bureau\n\n  (1) The functions of the Bureau are:\n    (a) the taking and recording of meteorological observations and other observations required for the purposes of meteorology; and\n    (b) the forecasting of weather and of the state of the atmosphere; and\n    (c) the issue of warnings of gales, storms and other weather conditions likely to endanger life or property, including weather conditions likely to give rise to floods or bush fires; and\n    (d) the supply of meteorological information; and\n    (e) the publication of meteorological reports and bulletins; and\n    (f) the promotion of the use of meteorological information; and\n    (g) the promotion of the advancement of meteorological science, by means of meteorological research and investigation or otherwise; and\n    (h) the furnishing of advice on meteorological matters; and\n    (i) co‑operation with the authority administering the meteorological service of any other country (including a Territory specified under subsection 4(2)) in relation to any of the matters specified in the preceding paragraphs of this subsection; and\n    (j) such other functions as are conferred on the Bureau by any other Act.\n  (2) The Bureau must perform its functions under this Act in the public interest generally and in particular:\n    (a) for the purposes of the Defence Force; and\n    (b) for the purposes of navigation and shipping and of civil aviation; and\n    (c) for the purpose of assisting persons and authorities engaged in primary production, industry, trade and commerce.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"7","sectionType":"section","heading":"Powers of the Director","content":"#### 7 Powers of the Director\n\n  (1) The Director has such powers as are necessary to enable the Bureau to perform its functions under section 6 (including any of its functions under Part 7 of the Water Act 2007), and, in particular, may:\n    (a) establish meteorological offices and observing stations; and\n    (b) arrange with any Department, authority or person to take and record meteorological observations and transmit meteorological reports and information; and\n    (c) arrange means of communication for the transmission and reception of meteorological reports and information; and\n    (d) arrange for the training of persons in meteorology.\n  (2) The Departments and authorities with which, and the persons with whom, arrangements may be made under subsection (1) include Departments and authorities of a State or Territory and persons in the service of such a State or Territory of such a Department or authority.","sortOrder":5},{"sectionNumber":"7A","sectionType":"section","heading":"Advertising","content":"#### 7A Advertising\n\n  (1) The Bureau may include advertising on, in or in connection with any of its services.\n  (2) The Director must develop and publish guidelines relating to advertising.\n  (3) Guidelines made under subsection (2) are not a legislative instrument.","sortOrder":6},{"sectionNumber":"8","sectionType":"section","heading":"Charges","content":"#### 8 Charges\n\n  The Director may, subject to any directions of the Minister, make charges for forecasts, information, advice, services, publications and other matter supplied pursuant to this Act or Part 7 of the Water Act 2007.","sortOrder":7},{"sectionNumber":"8A","sectionType":"section","heading":"Application of the finance law","content":"#### 8A Application of the finance law\n\n  For the purposes of the finance law (within the meaning of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013):\n    (a) the following group of persons is a listed entity:\n    (i) the Director;\n    (ii) persons engaged under the Public Service Act 1999 to assist the Director; and\n    (b) the listed entity is to be known as the Bureau of Meteorology; and\n    (c) the Director is the accountable authority of the listed entity; and\n    (d) the persons referred to in paragraph (a) are officials of the listed entity; and\n    (e) the purposes of the listed entity include the functions of the Bureau referred to in section 6.","sortOrder":8},{"sectionNumber":"9","sectionType":"section","heading":"Regulations","content":"#### 9 Regulations\n\n  The Governor‑General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.","sortOrder":9}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"circular_definition","section":"3 (Definition of 'the Bureau')","severity":"low","reasoning":"The definition presupposes the Bureau is 'established by this Act', yet section 5(1) uses the phrase 'there is to be', which is prospective and contingent rather than declarative. Strictly read, the Bureau defined in section 3 references an establishment that section 5 never conclusively performs, creating a mild circular bootstrapping problem.","confidence":0.55,"description":"The definition of 'the Bureau' is circularly self-referential: it is defined as 'the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology established by this Act', but the Act does not actually establish the Bureau in a constitutive sense — section 5(1) merely states 'there is to be a Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology', using future/prospective language rather than a declarative act of establishment."},{"type":"other","section":"6(1)(i)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Once a Territory is excluded from the Act's operation under section 4(2), the Bureau loses its domestic legal nexus with that Territory. The drafters address this by treating the excluded Territory as analogous to a foreign country for co-operation purposes. While administratively pragmatic, this creates the logical absurdity that an Australian Territory — still part of the Commonwealth — is categorised alongside foreign sovereign nations purely because the Minister published a Gazette notice. This conflates the concept of legislative reach with sovereign status.","confidence":0.75,"description":"Section 6(1)(i) lists co-operation with 'the authority administering the meteorological service of any other country (including a Territory specified under subsection 4(2))' as a Bureau function. This parenthetical explicitly classifies a Territory of Australia as equivalent to a 'other country' for the purposes of co-operation, which is legally and factually anomalous — Australian Territories are not foreign countries."},{"type":"other","section":"7A(2) and 7A(3)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The obligation to publish guidelines is mandatory ('must'), implying legal significance. Simultaneously stripping them of legislative instrument status removes them from the Legislation Act 2003 framework — meaning they cannot be disallowed by Parliament, need not be registered on the Federal Register of Legislation in a binding sense, and carry no enforceable legal weight against third-party advertisers. The Bureau could theoretically publish guidelines and then ignore them without legal consequence, rendering the mandatory publication requirement performative rather than substantive.","confidence":0.82,"description":"Section 7A(2) requires the Director to 'develop and publish guidelines relating to advertising', but section 7A(3) declares those guidelines 'are not a legislative instrument'. This creates a situation where a mandatory, publicly-published regulatory framework governing the Bureau's commercial conduct has no defined legal status, no mechanism for parliamentary scrutiny, and no specified consequences for non-compliance or inconsistency with the guidelines."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"4(2)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Standard legislative drafting includes both the power to exclude and the power to re-include. The absence of a re-extension power means the Minister's discretion, once exercised, is perpetual and unreviewable administratively. This is particularly significant given that meteorological services have direct public safety implications under section 6(1)(c) (storm and flood warnings). A Territory excluded from the Act would permanently lose access to the Bureau's statutory warning functions.","confidence":0.78,"description":"Section 4(2) allows the Minister to cause the Act to cease extending to a Territory by Gazette notice, but provides no mechanism for the Act to be re-extended to that Territory. The power is a one-way ratchet with no corresponding power of restoration, meaning a ministerial decision made by one Minister permanently and irrevocably binds all future Parliaments and Ministers without any legislative correction mechanism short of amending the Act."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"6(1)(i) — Co-operation with 'other countries' including excluded Territories","section_b":"4(2) — Minister's power to exclude Territories from the Act","confidence":0.72,"description":"Section 4(2) allows the Minister to remove a Territory from the Act's operation, while section 6(1)(i) then treats that excluded Territory as analogous to a foreign country for co-operation purposes. This creates a contradiction: the Bureau's domestic statutory functions (including mandatory public interest obligations under s6(2)) cease to apply to the Territory, yet the Bureau retains a function to 'co-operate' with it as though it were an external entity. The Bureau simultaneously has no statutory duty to serve the Territory and a statutory function to engage with it."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"6(2) — Bureau must perform functions 'in the public interest generally'","section_b":"8 — Director may make charges for forecasts, information, advice and services","confidence":0.68,"description":"Section 6(2) imposes a mandatory obligation on the Bureau to perform its functions in the public interest generally, and specifically for Defence, navigation, aviation, primary production, industry, trade and commerce. Section 8 permits the Director to charge for forecasts, information, advice and services — the very outputs of those mandatory public interest functions. The Act provides no floor, ceiling, or public interest test for charges, meaning the Director could theoretically set charges at a level that defeats access to services the Act mandates be delivered in the public interest, creating a structural tension between the mandatory public interest obligation and unconstrained commercial discretion."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"5(1) — 'there is to be' a Bureau and Director","section_b":"8A — Lists the Director and staff as a 'listed entity' under the PGPA Act","confidence":0.61,"description":"Section 5(1) contemplates the Bureau as a distinct entity under the charge of the Director. Section 8A, however, constitutes the listed entity under finance law as comprising only the Director and Public Service Act staff — not the Bureau itself. This means for financial governance purposes the 'Bureau' as a legal concept effectively disappears, replaced by a personnel-based listed entity. The Act thus simultaneously treats the Bureau as an organisational entity (sections 5-6) and as a non-entity for financial accountability purposes (section 8A), creating an inconsistent legal personality across the Act."}]},"kimi_summary":{"_metrics":{"source":"grok-batch-everything"},"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The original 1955 Act focused on establishing a public meteorological service for core observation, forecasting, warning and research activities. Subsequent amendments have expanded operational scope to permit commercial advertising (s.7A), fee-charging (s.8), formal integration with national water information functions under the Water Act 2007, and alignment with contemporary public-sector financial accountability under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (s.8A), shifting the Bureau toward a hybrid public-commercial model while retaining its foundational public-interest mandate."},"complexity_factors":["Short structure with only nine operative sections and two defined terms","Broad, non-prescriptive list of functions in s.6(1) that relies on interpretation rather than detailed rules","Cross-references to external legislation including the Water Act 2007, Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and Public Service Act 1999","Minor conditional elements such as the Minister's power to exclude territories under s.4(2) and the requirement to act 'in the public interest generally and in particular' under s.6(2)"],"plain_english_summary":"**The Meteorology Act 1955** creates and governs Australia's official national weather service, known as the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology (the Bureau). It sets up a Director to run the Bureau under the oversight of a government Minister.\n\nThe Bureau's job is to:\n\n* Collect and record weather observations and other data needed for weather science\n* Forecast the weather and the state of the atmosphere\n* Issue warnings about dangerous conditions such as gales, storms, floods or bushfires that could harm people or property\n* Share weather information, reports and advice with the public and organisations\n* Carry out research to improve weather knowledge and encourage its use\n* Work with weather services in other countries\n\nThe law requires the Bureau to do this work in the public interest, with special attention to helping the Defence Force, shipping, airlines, farmers and businesses. The Director can set up weather stations, train staff, partner with state governments or private people for data collection, include advertising on services, and charge fees for some forecasts or data (following any ministerial directions). The Act applies across Australia and its territories unless a territory is formally removed from coverage. Modern updates link the Bureau to standard government financial rules and allow it to take on extra tasks given by other laws, such as parts of the Water Act 2007.\n\nThis legislation matters because it gives the legal backbone to the weather information that protects lives, supports aviation and farming, and informs daily decisions across the country."},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act's original 1955 scope focused purely on meteorology. Over time, its scope has modestly expanded — most notably through references to Part 7 of the Water Act 2007, which extended the Director's powers and charging authority to cover water information services. The addition of advertising powers (section 7A) and formal public governance accountability obligations (section 8A) also represent incremental scope growth beyond the original intent, though the core meteorological mission remains unchanged."},"complexity_factors":["Very short and straightforward legislation with minimal sections","Plain language used throughout with limited legal jargon","Cross-references to two other Acts (Water Act 2007 and Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013) add minor complexity","Small number of defined terms requiring interpretation","Ministerial discretion power to exclude territories adds a minor conditional element"],"plain_english_summary":"## The Meteorology Act 1955\n\nThis Act is the legal foundation for the **Bureau of Meteorology (BOM)** — the Australian government agency responsible for weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and storm warnings.\n\n### What does it do?\n- **Creates the Bureau of Meteorology** and the role of Director of Meteorology\n- **Defines what BOM must do**, including:\n  - Recording weather observations\n  - Forecasting weather\n  - Issuing warnings about dangerous conditions (storms, floods, bushfires)\n  - Publishing weather reports and data\n  - Conducting meteorological research\n  - Cooperating with weather agencies in other countries\n- **Applies across all Australian states and territories**, though the Minister can exclude specific territories if needed\n\n### Who does it affect?\n- **Everyone in Australia** — BOM's warnings and forecasts affect daily life, emergency management, and safety\n- **Specific beneficiaries** the law names include: the Defence Force, aviation and shipping industries, and people in farming, industry, and commerce\n- **The Director of Meteorology**, who runs BOM and is legally accountable for its finances under public governance laws\n\n### Key practical points\n- BOM can **charge fees** for specialised forecasts, data, advice, and services\n- BOM can **carry advertising** on its services (like its website or app), subject to published guidelines\n- BOM's responsibilities also extend to **water information** under the Water Act 2007\n- The Act requires BOM to act in the **public interest**\n\n### Why does it matter?\nThis Act is why BOM legally exists and has the authority to issue official weather warnings. Without it, there would be no legal basis for Australia's national weather service. The storm and bushfire warning functions, in particular, have direct life-safety implications for millions of Australians."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act as provided establishes the Bureau, its functions, the Director’s powers, revenue mechanisms (charges and advertising), and finance‑law accountability. The text itself contains no provision showing a change from these core elements or an alteration of scope from the Act’s expressed provisions; it also explicitly allows the Minister to limit the Act’s application to particular Territories by Gazette notice (s4), which is part of the Act’s original scope rather than a post‑enactment change. Therefore, based solely on the supplied text, the statute’s scope as written has not changed from the instrument’s stated content."},"complexity_factors":["Cross‑references to other legislation (functions may include functions under Part 7 of the Water Act 2007) (s6(1); s7(1) reference).","Application of the Commonwealth finance law and accountability framework (s8A) which imports external governance rules.","Ministerial discretion over key decisions: Minister may direct the Director and may control charging (s5; s8).","Authority to make commercial arrangements with States, Territories and private persons (s7(1)(b),(2)) requiring contracting and intergovernmental coordination.","Revenue mechanisms that are operational rather than purely statutory grants: charging (s8) and advertising (s7A) introduce commercial elements.","A short, largely programmatic statutory structure that concentrates detailed implementation in delegated instruments and operational policy (advertising guidelines, charges, regulations) rather than in prescriptive statutory rules (s7A(2)–(3); s9)."],"plain_english_summary":"### What this law does, in plain English\n\n- The Act establishes the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology (the Bureau) and a Director of Meteorology to run it (s5). The Director is responsible for the Bureau’s administration but must follow directions given by the Minister (s5).\n\n- The Bureau’s day‑to‑day tasks are listed in the Act. They include taking and recording weather and related observations; forecasting weather and atmospheric conditions; issuing warnings about dangerous weather (including floods and bush fires); supplying meteorological information; publishing reports and bulletins; promoting use of meteorological information and meteorological science (research); giving meteorological advice; and cooperating with meteorological authorities in other countries (s6(1)). The Bureau must carry out these functions in the public interest and, in particular, for Defence, navigation/aviation, and to assist primary production, industry, trade and commerce (s6(2)).\n\n- The Director has specific powers needed to perform the Bureau’s functions: creating offices and observing stations, making arrangements with government departments, authorities or private persons to take observations and transmit reports, arranging communications, and organising training (s7(1)). Arrangements may be made with State and Territory departments and their employees (s7(2)).\n\n- The Bureau may include advertising in connection with its services. The Director must publish advertising guidelines, and those guidelines are not treated as a legislative instrument (s7A).\n\n- The Director may charge for forecasts, information, advice, services, publications and other material supplied under this Act (and certain functions under the Water Act 2007), but charges are subject to any directions from the Minister (s8).\n\n- For Commonwealth finance law purposes, the Bureau is a listed entity under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability framework. The Director is the accountable authority and Bureau staff engaged under the Public Service Act are officials of that listed entity (s8A). This brings the Bureau’s finances and accountability under the Commonwealth’s finance rules.\n\n- The Act applies to all Territories unless the Minister publishes a Gazette notice ending its application to a specified Territory on a specified date (s4). The Governor‑General may make regulations needed to implement the Act (s9).\n\n\nWhy this matters (mechanics, incentives and likely effects)\n\n- Who pays: the Act authorises the Director to charge users for forecasts, data, advice and publications (s8). Those charges can be shaped by Ministerial directions (s8). The Bureau may also generate revenue from advertising (s7A).\n\n- Who decides and where discretion sits: day‑to‑day operational authority rests with the Director (s5), but the Director is subject to Ministerial directions (s5) and charges are explicitly subject to the Minister (s8). The Director is also the accountable authority under Commonwealth finance law (s8A), creating financial governance responsibilities.\n\n- Effects on private parties and markets: the Director can enter arrangements with State/Territory departments and with private persons to collect observations and transmit reports (s7(1)(b),(2)). That creates a mechanism for the Bureau to purchase or outsource data collection and communications from third parties. Charging (s8) and advertising (s7A) give the Bureau routes to raise revenue and to interact commercially with users and advertisers.\n\n- Compliance burden and implementation points: the Act imposes no direct penalties or compulsory duties on private persons in its text; cooperation with others is effected by arrangement (s7). The Director must publish advertising guidelines (s7A(2)), but those guidelines are not subject to the legislative instrument process (s7A(3)), meaning they are not automatically subject to parliamentary disallowance.\n\n- Trade‑offs and risks created by the Act’s mechanisms:\n  - Revenue trade‑offs: authorising charges (s8) and advertising (s7A) gives the Bureau options to offset operating costs but may shift costs to users of specialised products and create incentives to prioritise revenue‑generating services.\n  - Ministerial control vs operational independence: the Director runs the Bureau but remains subject to Ministerial directions (s5) and to Ministerial control over charges (s8), which concentrates certain policy decisions with the Minister.\n  - Coordination and transaction costs: using arrangements with States, Territories and private persons to collect observations (s7) offers flexibility, but requires contracting, quality control and coordination across jurisdictions.\n  - Financial governance: treating the Bureau as a listed entity under the Commonwealth finance law (s8A) imposes formal accountability and reporting requirements on the Director and staff, affecting internal administration and procurement.\n\n\nConcrete citation points\n\n- Establishment and leadership: s5.\n- Listed functions (observations, forecasts, warnings, research, advice, cooperation): s6(1).\n- Particular public‑interest purposes (Defence, navigation/aviation, primary production, industry, trade and commerce): s6(2).\n- Director’s powers to establish offices, arrange with others, set up communications and training: s7(1)–(2).\n- Advertising power and requirement to publish non‑legislative guidelines: s7A.\n- Power to charge for services / publications, subject to Ministerial directions: s8.\n- Application of Commonwealth finance law and accountable authority role: s8A.\n- Territorial application and Ministerial power to cease application to a Territory: s4.\n- Regulation‑making power: s9.\n\nThis summary describes how the Act allocates responsibilities, the revenue and operational mechanisms it authorises, and the points of discretion and accountability written into the law. It does not assess whether those mechanisms are good or bad; it identifies who pays, who decides, and how behaviour is likely to change as a result of the Act’s mechanical provisions (with sections cited)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/meteorology-act-1955","history":"/api/acts/meteorology-act-1955/history","analysis":"/api/acts/meteorology-act-1955/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/meteorology-act-1955/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/meteorology-act-1955/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/meteorology-act-1955/documents"}}