What it does
The Meteorology Act 1955 is framework legislation that establishes the institutional and functional basis for the provision of meteorological services by the Commonwealth of Australia. At its core, s.5(1) creates the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology as a statutory entity and provides for the office of Director of Meteorology. Section 5(2) places the Bureau under the charge of the Director, who exercises general administration of the Act subject to ministerial direction. This structure ensures political accountability while conferring operational autonomy on the Director for day-to-day meteorological work.
Section 6(1) enumerates the Bureau's statutory functions in ten paragraphs that remain remarkably stable since the Act's passage. These include the taking and recording of meteorological observations (s.6(1)(a)), the forecasting of weather and atmospheric conditions (s.6(1)(b)), and the issuance of warnings concerning gales, storms and other phenomena likely to endanger life or property, expressly encompassing floods and bushfires (s.6(1)(c)). The Act further authorises the supply of meteorological information (s.6(1)(d)), publication of reports and bulletins (s.6(1)(e)), promotion of the use of such information (s.6(1)(f)), advancement of meteorological science through research (s.6(1)(g)), furnishing of advice (s.6(1)(h)), international cooperation (s.6(1)(i)), and any additional functions conferred by other statutes (s.6(1)(j)).
Subsection 6(2) imposes a mandatory overlay: the Bureau must perform its functions "in the public interest generally and in particular" for the Defence Force, navigation, shipping, civil aviation, and persons or authorities engaged in primary production, industry, trade and commerce. This provision is not merely aspirational; it operates as a statutory interpretative rule that colours the exercise of all powers under the Act.