Media Release 9th July, 2006 Revealed: Biodiversity “pay-to-kill” scheme set to end public consultation A Bill introduced into NSW parliament last month is set to radically transform biodiversity impact assessment in NSW, and ultimately exclude the public from participating in it. The Hunter Community Environment Centre has access to confidential documents related to the Threatened Species Amendment (Biodiversity Banking) Bill 2006, and has released an assessment roundly attacking it. The Centre claims that the Bill will entrench the worst mistakes of the current “offsetting” culture, and will bypass public opposition to biodiversity destruction by removing the mechanisms by which the public are engaging in it. The Bill establishes a biodiversity offsetting and trading scheme termed “Biobanking.” The scheme would allow property developers and public authorities to destroy sensitive areas of bushland, providing they first purchase “biodiversity credits” – or give money to the state Government. HCEC spokesperson, Georgina Woods, said, “We are convinced that this scheme cannot and will not protect biodiversity in NSW: The proposed Biobanking Bill seeks to enshrine in legislation the very worst aspects of the “trade-off” mentality, allowing developers to pay the Government money to escape having to assess for or protect threatened species and other biodiversity values. No public consultation will occur, and threatened species conservation will be reduced to a lowest-common-denominator “pay-to-kill” policy. “The NSW Government has abandoned any semblance of care for threatened species: They seem to believe that they can abuse and ignore biodiversity, and we are completely fed up.” “If the State Government continues down this path, a new era of conflict and opposition over biodiversity protection and planning will begin,” Ms. Woods concluded.