NSW Plan for Nature...?

When it comes to biodiversity…what we do here, in our state, is being watched around the world.

These words are true.?

One of, if not the area of policy I was most passionate about as NSW Environment Minister was biodiversity and conservation. It was a steep learning curve, and travelling the expanse of our state, particularly visiting our National Parks, was an epochal moment in understanding why action was needed, and what that action looked like.

For that reason, (and on the advice of the team of far smarter people around me) I commissioned former Commonwealth Treasury Secretary Dr Ken Henry AC to conduct a deep and comprehensive review of the laws that govern how the state manages its biodiversity, the Biodiversity Conservation Act.

I never had the opportunity to respond to the review as we lost government.

But today, we can all read how the NSW Labor Government has responded. What decisions have they made in adopting (or rejecting) his recommendations…

A quick analysis has led me to these views…the good…

• The development of a new ‘NSW Nature Strategy’. The strategy will include public and private investment and action to protect, connect and restore ecosystems and landscapes
• A pilot of a new biodiversity framework to enable agency (different areas of government) impacts to be transparently reported
• The improvement of cross-tenure, ecosystem-scale initiatives and interventions to protect endangered species.
• The expansion of private land conservation initiatives. Bravo to the Biodiversity Conservation Trust ! (Let’s hope somehow you keep your budget because Mr Mookhey is running the show).
• The improvement of biodiversity data mapping by investigating options to undertake near real-time data acquisition for reporting. (This should be a game-changer given technology availability and cost effectiveness in 2024).

And...the acknowledgement in the foreword that additional effort must be directed into proactive landscape-scale biodiversity protection, restoration and management.

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And perhaps the not so good…

The acknowledgement and acceptance of the status quo is not enough. The current objects of the Act are no longer fit to address current and future biodiversity challenges. So…given that, this line is a total cop out from NSW Labor – “the government is committed to identifying opportunities to improve biodiversity under OTHER relevant laws”.

They go on to say, “we will identify where biodiversity considerations might be given additional weight to support our overall ambition to set nature on a path to recovery.”

Note the use of rubbery language. They will ‘identify’….and ‘might’….and ‘overall ambition’.

It’s not good to see the ditching of the recommendation to use spatial mapping and identify ‘no-go’ areas for development. This could be interpreted as nothing is off the table as far as development goes and unacceptable biodiversity impacts…

And, after all the gnashing of teeth and rage from Labor about the NSW Biodiversity Offset system, I couldn’t help but enjoy this line…” At the 2023 State Election, the NSW (Labor) Government committed that it would fix the Biodiversity Offset Scheme. Some impacts, however, are unavoidable. For this reason, the NSW Government is committed to…a functioning biodiversity credit market. ?i.e. acknowledgement that upon finding themselves calling the shots, it is very difficult, challenging and people were doing their best all along so we will proceed with the system but improve where we can. (Good).

Also, some serious hedging going on…for example, claiming to be committed to ongoing native vegetation monitoring, including CONSIDERING (their word not mine) establishing a legislative requirement, to capture both vegetation losses and gains. One must ask why only consider doing it if time is of the essence?

But, let’s end on a high note…

It is great to see continuation of work to ensure NSW will be the first Australian jurisdiction to develop and implement local and statewide natural capital accounting frameworks.

Why not embrace my election commitment (driven by the dynamic Honora Campbell ) to go further and integrate statewide natural capital accounts into the State’s balance sheet? Well done to the NSW Natural Capital team, the actions in the response are great…you know who you are.

Ultimately, this response vindicates much of the work of the previous government ( Christian Dunk ) and the direction in which it was heading – prioritising landscape scale conservation and restoration, supporting private land conservation, empowering the Biodiversity Conservation Trust, ramping up the opportunity for Natural Capital investments, and looking at the fundamental objects of the Biodiversity Conservation Act.

My final word goes to...

the outstanding, professional, passionate, and intelligent bureaucrats in the Biodiversity, Conservation and Science division, NPWS division and Biodiversity Conservation Trust whose ideas and vision I can see in so many of the initiatives that underpin this review, keep up the great work and well done on getting what appear to be some new initiatives in the pipeline. I can only hope the political will and budget matches the ambition I know exists inside the Department.

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You can read the NSW Government response to the reviews of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the native vegetation provisions of the Local Land Services Act 2013 here .

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