The federal government agreed to hand over environmental powers to the New South Wales government despite the state not meeting the required standards to protect threatened species and ecosystems, internal documents have shown.
A federal government assessment of NSW’s environment laws found that the state met the national standard in just four of 15 areas.
Despite this, NSW was accredited to oversee the environmental impact of projects such as mining in May last year. The federal government has struck agreements with the states and territories to devolve environmental assessments to them in a “one-stop shop” if they meet certain standards.
Documents released under freedom of information laws show that NSW does not match federal oversight in a number of aspects in its offsetting strategy. Offsets are undertaken when a development destroys an area of habitat, requiring a similar piece of habitat elsewhere to be secured for threatened species.
The assessment found that NSW allows smaller offsets than federal law requires and doesn’t demand that offset habitat is exactly the same as the habitat that will be cleared.
It adds there is a “broader issue related to the consistency of threatened species lists” and warns that NSW’s policies could “permit the establishment of an offset site that is lower quality than the impact site.”
The assessment notes that NSW has a “no net loss” standard to offsets but adds: “However, the NSW policy allows offsets to be ‘discounted in some circumstances, potentially allowing for the establishment of offsets that are not commensurate with the scale of the impact and the ‘no net loss’ standard.”
Other discrepancies include NSW allowing rehabilitated mines and carbon sequestration in trees and other vegetation to be counted as offsets.
The state also allows developers simply to pay money into a fund, called “supplementary measures”, if new habitat cannot be found. A federal department of environment assessor said in an email to colleagues: “This is not in accordance with our policy where 90% of the offsets need to be direct, and only 10% can be supplementary.”
A set of talking points issued to Greg Hunt, the federal environment minister, state “on balance, we determined that the positive features of the NSW policy outweigh these minor discrepancies.”
Hunt has argued that environmental assessments and approvals should be handed over to the states in order to speed up the process and avoid duplication. His department estimates businesses will save $417m a year by cutting this delay.
However, environmental groups claim the move would water down protections, create a complex, inconsistent set of laws across the country and do little to aid business. Labor and the Greens oppose the handover and the changes are currently stuck in the Senate.
“It’s very concerning that the federal government is prepared to sign off on standards that don’t meet their own,” said Daisy Barham, campaigns director at the Nature Conservation Council.
“These standards allow companies to destroy special places in return for money, meaning we’ll end up with a pot of money but not the environment that we value. This whole process is being driven by mining and development interests, not the need to protect threatened species.
“This just shows why issues of vital environmental importance shouldn’t be handed over. We have laws at a federal level for a reason. Our environment is in crisis and handing over powers to the states at lower standards just increases the risks.”
An analysis undertaken by environment groups last year found that none of Australia’s states are currently up to the job of properly protected threatened species and ecosystems if handed the responsibility by the federal government.
Barham said the whole area of offsets needs to be reformed, with some areas declared completely off limits and a mechanism to ensure that areas previously protected under offsets are not themselves wiped out later by a mine, agriculture or housing.
Hunt’s office was contacted for comment.
