He held this position for three years, before being promoted again to senior operational forecaster in the Sydney bureau, Australia's largest.
In 1992, Whitaker became the New South Wales manager for the Special Services Unit, the commercial arm of the Bureau during the 1990s, and this work involved enhanced communication of meteorology to the public via mass media.
Such charts are now used throughout the print and electronic media to convey data about present and future rainfall in graphical form.
In his second year at the Bureau of Meteorology, 1972, he developed and authored a manual for aviation forecasting in New South Wales, still used today.
He also presents numerous radio weather crosses to a selection of stations around Australia on a daily basis.