Tuesday, 19 Mar 2024

NSW Labor vows to fix ‘broken’ environmental offsets system if elected

NSW Labor vows to fix ‘broken’ environmental offsets system if elected


NSW Labor vows to fix ‘broken’ environmental offsets system if elected

New South Wales Labor has promised to fix the state's "broken" environmental offsets system if it wins government in March, saying current policies are causing decline of endangered ecosystems instead of avoiding more damage.

"I think there's a role for offsetting but the current system is skewed the wrong way," the party's environment spokesperson, Penny Sharpe, said.

"I fear we are just managing the decline."

Sharpe said the current system had "no red lines" and a Labor government would use a five-yearly review of the state's environmental laws, due to report in August, to deliver changes within the first 18 months of government.

"It means we're not faffing around," she said. "It means it gives a good structure in terms of the timing. A 12- to 18-month process we can get done early rather than waiting."

It comes after a Guardian Australia investigation into planned developments in outer Sydney raised serious concerns about environmental offsets proposed to compensate for a massive expansion of new housing.

Biodiversity offsetting usually involves conserving and restoring bushland to compensate for clearing of ecosystems in another area for development.

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