THE federal government will close the curtain on Wagga’s fully manned weather station, offering three employees redundancy and replacing them with an automated service.
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The closure has sparked fears the Riverina – which depends on 24-hour updates for farming operations – will be left in the lurch if systems malfunction.
The three workers at the Wagga weather office at Forest Hill will be offered redeployment within the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
And the office itself will undergo transformation between 2018 and 2021. It is one of 24 weather stations across Australia to become automated.
Riverina MP Michael McCormack said he was informed of the decision by Environment Minister Greg Hunt on Monday and feared the closure would affect farmers the most.
Imagine being told that a bloody robot can do the same job you've been doing all your life.
- Maxwell farmer Don Kirkpatrick
It comes as BOM stopped recording regular weather updates for major agricultural centres including Cootamundra, Gundagai and Tumbarumba last year.
“I have spoken to Greg Hunt and I've said I was concerned that automation, if it goes down in severe weather, could have an impact on farmers that need a reliable service for harvesting,” Mr McCormack said.
“This is their livelihoods – and it’s not just farmers, it’s all of those people that rely on regular updates.
“I’ve stressed that any upgrades, maintenance or repairs to the automated service need to be carried out by local contractors.”
Maxwell farmer Don Kirkpatrick feared the Riverina would lose the benefits of the “personal touch”.
“They’ve always been handy when you want to ring them up and talk to them,” he said.
“They provide a personal service and they tell you things that a weather map can’t.
“It’s disappointing for Wagga because a lot of people – particularly farm-type people – have relied on it for forecasting. Sadly it’s a reflection of the times.
“Imagine being told that a bloody robot can do the same job you’ve been doing all your life.”
In bad timing, BOM’s weather system went down on Friday morning, leaving Australia “in the dark”.