An updated draft of the National Environmental Standard for Environmental Offsets (draft Offsets Standard) has been released for public comment. 

See the consultation page here for more information and to read the updated documents, being the: 

Submissions are due by 11.59pm, Tuesday 9 June 2026  

EDO is concerned that:

  • The Draft Offsets Standard requires that offset activities deliver “the required net gain” – but there is still uncertainty about what this means.
  • Key principles for environmental offsetting have been weakened, including shortening the time frames offsets must be in place for in a way that undermines their ability to compensate for permanent impacts; removing requirements for considering feasibility of an offsets, including that an offset be capable of being commenced at the time of a decision; and allowing like-for-like requirements to be varied,  where an activity delivers a ‘greater conservation benefit’.
  • Allowing proponents to make restoration contributions payments with no strict limitations, in lieu of genuine direct offsets, undermines the integrity of the entire framework and means that improved environmental outcomes are unlikely to be achieved;
  • The Draft Offsets Standard contains problematic provisions that make the Objects and Outcomes irrelevant; and
  • Overall, the offsets framework lacks an overarching architecture, with elements being developed in a piecemeal fashion with key information missing -bringing into question how the framework will operate in practice.

Our key concerns with the Draft Offsets Standard are set out in more detail in our EDO Submission Guide – Key Concerns with the Updated Draft Offsets Standard – May 2026.