The Minns Labor Government is introducing proposed reforms to the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme which will enhance environmental protections while delivering certainty for infrastructure and housing projects.
The proposed reforms, being introduced in the NSW Parliament this week, deliver on Labor's election commitment to fix the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme which has been criticised for being complex and opaque while not delivering outcomes for the environment.
The Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024 will protect biodiversity, increase transparency of the Scheme, provide clearer guidance for industry, and reduce regulatory burden for low-risk local development.
It will make environmental impacts and risks clearer at the beginning of the development process, to provide more certainty for industry and reduce unexpected costs and delays.
This is the first step in delivering the government's NSW Plan for Nature, which responds to the independent statutory review by Dr Ken Henry into the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.
The Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024 aims to:
- Focus on avoiding impacts first and foremost.
- Ensure biodiversity impacts are known as early as possible.
- Require the Scheme to transition to delivering overall net positive outcomes over time.
- Ensure the Biodiversity Conservation Trust finds and invests in impacted species and ecosystems quickly.
- Ensure the Scheme is transparent and applied to projects fairly through new public registers and accountability for assessors.
- Reduce regulatory burden on lower-impact local development, particularly in regional areas, including the ability to turn off the Scheme for some smaller projects and in exceptional circumstances.
The proposed legislation will not impact the delivery of the NSW Government's housing targets. The Biodiversity Offsets Scheme does not apply where there is no habitat being impacted, such as the Transport Oriented Development Program.
The proposed reforms will be subject to public consultation through a parliamentary inquiry process. All stakeholders will be encouraged to be involved.
Quote attributable to Minister for the Environment Penny Sharpe:
'This is the first step to delivering our election commitment to fix the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme.
'The Minns Labor Government will work closely with stakeholders to get the settings right, so the environment is protected while we deliver the critical housing and infrastructure needed in NSW.
'I sat on the Parliamentary inquiry into offsets and understand the issues that proponents and communities have with Scheme. This Bill aims to address these issues.
'Ultimately, the Government cannot be the manager of a steady environmental decline – our goal is to leave nature better off than we found it. We can do this at the same time as giving confidence and clarity to proponents so that biodiversity impacts are known and avoided, wherever possible.'
