The Australian Government is developing a new National Environmental Standard for Environmental Offsets, which will guide how environmental harm from approved developments is compensated.
A draft Standard was released for consultation in early 2026, which was far from the “clear standards” promised. A second draft has now been released. There have been some welcome improvements, but there are still major problems with the integrity of the Standard.
Environmental offsetting has a bad track record in Australia, and for good reason - it hasn’t delivered the benefits it keeps promising. So, integrity must be front and centre in any attempt to fix the system. Businesses, and the nature sector need confidence that when environmental damage is allowed under our national environmental laws, compensating environmental benefits will actually be delivered.
Recommendations
For the Government’s Offsetting Standard to deliver integrity, it must:
- Ensure direct and indirect offsets are not merely ‘intended to’ protect, conserve or restore a protected matter. Intentions do not matter, expected outcomes do.
- Remove the legal fiction that direct offsets can be ‘self-sustaining’. The all-pervasive impacts of climate change, invasive species and landscape fragmentation mean that active management is required across all Australian landscapes.
- Require offsets for long-term and permanent damage to have long-term protection (at least 99 years) or permanent protection.
- Direct offset activities must use legal protections where they are available and appropriate – not merely ‘should’ use.
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Image: Rod Long/Unsplash
