User Experience Research and Design Documentation for 2025 Website Redesign
Dear Bureau of Meteorology,
I am lodging this request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 via RightToKnow.
I request access to documents relating to the Bureau of Meteorology website redesign launched in 2025, including work undertaken by Accenture and any other consultancies involved in UX Design or UX / Design / Market Research activities.
Specifically, I seek the following categories of documents:
- User Experience (UX) design and research, or market research planning documents and reports associated with the redesign.
- Documentation relating to identified user journeys, critical user experiences, personas, and any user or market segmentation and prioritisation developed for the project.
- Usability testing materials, including: test plans, recruitment plans, research scripts, analysis, findings or reports
- Documentation outlining any recommendations from user research, usability or user testing activities that were identified but not implemented.
- Documents showing where decisions by BoM diverged from or overrode UX, design or research recommendations, including emails, meeting minutes or briefing notes.
- Any relevant deliverables, reports or research artefacts provided by Accenture or any other external consultancy engaged for the redesign.
If any parts of documents are exempt, I request edited copies under s.22 of the FOI Act. I prefer documents in electronic form.
If needed, I am happy to discuss scope to ensure the request can be processed efficiently.
Yours faithfully,
Leisa Reichelt
OFFICIAL
Ref: FOI30/202
Dear Leisa Reichelt,
1. We sincerely apologise for our delay. We are dealing with a high
volume of matters.
2. We refer to and acknowledge receipt of your email dated 5 December
2025 (below), in which you request access under the Freedom of
Information 1982 (Cth) ('FOI Act').
Administrative release
3. In response to the public interest in website, the Bureau is preparing
an administrative release of documents which addresses many of the
commonly asked questions sent to us, including the topic of your FOI
request. This release will be sent to you and all other FOI applicants
– regardless of the outcome of each request.
Request for further time:
4. Section 15(5) of the FOI Act provides the Bureau 30 days to provide
you a decision on your request. However, having regard to operational
demands and high volume of FOI matters, especially near the Bureau's
'shutdown' period where staff resources become limited, we
respectfully request your agreement to extend time by further 30 days
pursuant to section 15AA of the FOI Act. The due date of your decision
will therefore be 5 February 2026.
5. The administrative release referred to above will be provided to you
separately as soon as it becomes available and before 5 February 2026.
Consent to remove materials:
6. We further write to ask whether you agree to remove from any documents
in scope of your request the following:
a. the names (including any signatures or initials), position titles
and direct contact details of non-senior officers of the Bureau (being
staff below the General Manager level);
b. the signatures, initials, and direct contact details of senior
staff (we note that position titles of senior staff will be released);
c. the names (including any signatures or initials), position titles
and direct contact details of any third-party individuals; and
d. duplicate materials, including duplicate email threads.
7. An agreement to remove the above information from scope of your
request would further minimise privacy concerns and reduce
duplication.
Your response:
8. We would be grateful for your response by reply email by close of
business Tuesday 30 December 2025 regarding:
· Your agreement to further time pursuant to s 15AA; and
· Your agreement to further exclude specific materials from the
scope of your request.
Kind Regards
FOI Officer
Freedom of Information
[1][BOM request email] | [2]www.bom.gov.au
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OFFICIAL
Dear FOI Officer,
Thank you for your timely response to my request. I am happy to allow additional time, especially considering the time of year, and look forward to receiving materials by 5 February 2026 and the administrative release as soon as it is available.
I am happy to consent to remove names, signatures and contact details for Bureau and 3rd party staff to be removed, however a key objective of my FOI is to understand where responsibility for key decisions about work that was recommended (or not), undertaken (or not) and acted upon (or not) resides. For example, was certain work recommended by consultants and not approved by the Bureau? Or did more junior Bureau staff make recommendations that were denied by more senior staff? Consent is given as long as this information remains evident from the documents.
Yours sincerely,
Leisa Reichelt
Our reference: RQ26/00009
Agency reference: FOI30/202
Agency name: Bureau of Meteorology
By Email: [1][email address]
Applicant Name: Leisa Reichelt
By Email: [2][FOI #14083 email]
Extension of time under s 15AB
Dear Parties,
Please find attached an extension of time decision relating to the above
referenced FOI request.
Regards
[3][IMG] Bradley Penfold
Review Advisor, Early Resolution
FOI Case Management
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Sydney | GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
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cultures and Elders past and present.
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