Australia’s cyclone name changed to avoid confusion with PM

Australia's Tropical Cyclone Alfred was originally set to be named Cyclone Anthony before the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) made a last-minute switch, according to SBS News.

The change was made to avoid confusion with Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's name, following BoM's policy of skipping names that match prominent public figures.

"When a name matches a prominent person of the time, we reorder to the next name starting with that same letter to avoid any confusion," a BoM spokesperson told AAP.

Albanese, when asked about the change on radio station B105 Brisbane, said that his government had no involvement in the decision but acknowledged that it "does kind of make sense" to prevent confusion during a natural disaster.

The name Anthony has now been pushed further down the cyclone list, set to be used 41 cyclones after Alfred. Another potential change looms with the upcoming cyclone name Peta, which is phonetically identical to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's name.

The BoM has followed a systematic cyclone naming policy since 1963, initially using only female names until 1975. The approved list is coordinated with neighbouring countries under the World Meteorological Organisation's guidelines to prevent duplication.