MP launches campaign to save BOM staff

FEBRUARY 23, 2016: I've started a campaign to fight the Bureau of Meteorology’s plan to cut all on-ground staff in Mackay and move them to either Cairns or Brisbane.You can find the details at a Facebook page and an online petition entitled Save our weather bureau staff.This is not only a loss of public service jobs in our region, and that’s the last thing Mackay needs right now.It’s also a potentially life-threatening move because if we’re in the middle of a cyclone or flood, and our weather monitoring equipment breaks down, there will be no-one around to fix it or provide any manual observations.BOM officials met with me in Canberra recently to explain their reasoning, and I understand that they want to provide us with a more efficient fully-automated system.What I don’t understand is why they refuse to base any technicians along a stretch of 1700km of coastline which is subject to regular severe weather events such as cyclones and floods.I'm inviting those who agree with this stance to sign the petition to ensure that the voices of the people of Central and North Queensland were heard.You’ll find a link to the petition via the Facebook page, or go direct via this link.