Developers Must Protect Nature to Get Building Permission
Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024
Legislative Council
Legislative Assembly
Assent
Topics
biodiversity biodiversity offsets environmental protection land management land use nature conservation urban planning
Introduced by: The Hon Penny Sharpe MLC (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
James Griffin LIB
“I contribute to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024, on behalf of the Opposition. I acknowledge the debate last night in the Legislative Council, which neatly encapsulated many of the challenges with the legislation and the scheme itself.”
Tamara Smith GRN
“On behalf of The Greens in the Legislative Assembly, I make a contribution to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024. Our Environment portfolio holder, Ms Sue Higginson in the other place, is one of the leading and eminent environmental lawyers in the country—she taught me environmental law in my law degree.”
Liza Butler ALP
“I am pleased to speak in support of the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024. As everyone in this place will acknowledge, the content of the bill and the broader Biodiversity Offsets Scheme is incredibly complex, but it is critical to balance the preservation of biodiversity while delivering the important housing and infrastructure that we need as a society.”
Dugald Saunders NAT
“I speak on behalf of The Nationals on the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024. From the outset, I say that The Nationals support protecting the environment. No-one wants to see the environment destroyed, but the right balance needs to be struck in our approach.”
Alex Greenwich IND
“Biodiversity in New South Wales is under threat. We have some of the worst extinction rates in the world, and habitat loss is rapidly accelerating. Experts estimate that we are losing 50 million trees a year. We are not on track to save the over 1,000 species and over 100 ecological communities at risk of extinction by 2050.”
Liesl Tesch ALP
“Before I commence my contribution to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024, I acknowledge the Darkinjung people, on whose land I live, work and play on the Central Coast. The bill is important to the future development of land they have in our community.”
Joe McGirr IND
“I make a brief contribution to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024. The bill attempts to correct the approach by the previous Government to reform biodiversity management. That approach could be described as an each‑way bet that ended up achieving little and pleasing few.”
Dave Layzell NAT
“I contribute to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024. All of us in this State recognise the need to protect biodiversity and to do what we can to preserve it. We acknowledge the impact that people have on biodiversity all over the State, including, shockingly, in Sydney.”
Michael Regan IND
“I contribute to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024. Don Watson, who was Paul Keating’s speechwriter among other things, writes evocatively in his book The Bush about his family’s history as colonisers in the Strzelecki Ranges in Gippsland, Victoria.”
Greg Piper IND
“I contribute to debate on the Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024. It has long been my view that the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme is broken, and that is now a view shared by many of us here but perhaps for different reasons.”
Trish Doyle ALP
“I also thank Portfolio Committee No. 7 in the other place for conducting an inquiry into the bill, and I thank the broad range of stakeholders who made submissions. The Government has listened to the issues raised in the other place. The offsets scheme is complex.”
News articles and press releases
Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Biodiversity Offsets Scheme) Bill 2024
The Hon. PENNY SHARPE, Minister for Climate Change — 2024-08-15
The bill has five key elements. It requires that steps be taken to avoid impacts, first and foremost; requires the scheme to transition to delivering overall net positive outcomes over time; allows for the circumstances where developers can pay into the Biodiversity Conservation Fund to be reduced and, when the fund is used, ensures quicker investment in impacted species and ecosystems; increases transparency through new public registers and increases accountability for biodiversity impact assessors; and allows for regulatory burden on lower impact local development to be reduced in exceptional circumstances, particularly in regional areas.