The operation of a national meteorological service is resource intensive, especially for a country the size of Australia. To undertake all the activities of the Bureau, approximately 1400 staff are located right across Australia, its offshore islands and Antarctica. The Bureau employs a wide range of professional, technical and administrative staff including many specialists who have skills and training specific to the Bureau environment. A significant proportion of staff work shifts to maintain a round-the-clock nation-wide weather watch and to provide ongoing forecasts every day of the year.

Like its staff, the Bureau's asset base is widely dispersed. It includes observing instruments, computing and communications systems, software, land and buildings, some of which are in remote locations such as the field offices at Casey, Davis and Mawson in the Antarctic, or sited on coral reefs in the Pacific Ocean. In an environment characterised by technological change and rapid obsolescence, the Bureau manages assets with a replacement value of approximately $350m.

This complex array of human, capital and other financial resources demands robust resource management. The Bureau's ongoing challenge in corporate resource management is to carry out its statutory functions to acceptable levels within a resource constrained environment. More information on specific aspects of the Bureau's resource management activity during 2004-05 is provided below.

• Workforce Planning and Staff Retention and Turnover
• Training
• Financial Management Issues
• Management Information System
• Purchasing
• Asset Management
• Consultants
• Competitive Tendering and Contracting