Morrison government urged to fix flawed environmental offsets leaving threatened species at risk

Audit of offsets to approve developments suggests usage is worsening impact of endangered species, not reducing it

The Morrison government is being urged to fix the use of environmental offsets to approve developments after an audit found major flaws in a system supposed to help protect threatened species from extinction.

Scientists said the scathing audit of how the federal environment department administered national conservation laws suggested the use of offsets was worsening the impact on endangered species, not reducing it.