Planning regulations that were designed to reverse Victoria’s dramatic loss of native habitat are being secretly reviewed by the Baillieu government after complaints that the state is being choked by environmental red tape.
The Age has learnt that the Department of Sustainability and Environment is conducting an internal review of Victoria’s decade-old native vegetation management framework, which was designed to ensure a ”net gain” in native vegetation after decades of steep decline.
It is believed the government wants the framework ”streamlined”, and is considering whether the ”net gain” requirement to more than offset any loss of native vegetation with similar habitat is excessively onerous and difficult to calculate after complaints from farmers, planners and Coalition MPs.
Former Victorian Farmers Federation president and Liberal MP Simon Ramsay told Parliament in May last year that regional Victoria was being ”progressively choked” by environmental regulation.
He cited a Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission finding that it was costing business up to $395 million a year to comply with the regulations. ”It is all sheer madness, and it is tearing country communities apart,” Mr Ramsay said.
Environment Minister Ryan Smith has confirmed that the framework is being reviewed by his department, saying the government is seeking ”stakeholder feedback” on how it might strengthen its approach to environmental regulation while protecting biodiversity.
State Treasury has also urged the government to overhaul the regulations.
”In areas of environmental regulation, including native vegetation conservation and waste management, current policies are imposing large costs on households, businesses and government finances, without necessarily achieving their environmental objectives,” Treasury said.
”Native vegetation regulations need to be streamlined and simplified.”
One approach being considered would be to allow developers and farmers to pay a simple offset fee into a central fund, without requiring them to undertake an ecological assessment.
The approach has been backed by Treasury, which has called for a single ”native vegetation exchange mechanism” to ”facilitate timely and efficient transactions in the offsets market”.
The idea of ”net gain” was introduced by the Kennett government when it launched Victoria’s first biodiversity strategy in 1997.
The concept was adopted as government policy by the Bracks Labor government in 2002 and became policy in July 2003 after being incorporated into all planning schemes.
Victorian National Parks Association executive director Matt Ruchel said numerous government and scientific reports over the last decades had shown Victoria as the most cleared and ecologically stressed state in Australia, with high numbers of threatened species.
”Native vegetation controls are a critical policy area to ensure our unique native plants and animals can survive for the future, particularly in the most cleared parts of the state,” Mr Ruchel said.
”The lack of comprehensive policy on the environment makes community people very nervous about which direction the government is going on protecting our natural heritage.”
