A South West lobby group has accused the federal government of handing Main Roads WA blank-cheque conditions to destroy a biodiversity hotspot.

The long-running battle between the South West lobby group, Main Roads and federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek over the southern section of the Bunbury Outer Ring Road reached a critical point last week in the Federal Court.

Dr Sue Chapman, Vice President of Friends of Gelorup told Ian Blackley, filling in for Jo McManus, that their argument is around the offset principles and that the recovery plan for the critically endangered Western Ringtail Possum has been ignored.

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“The traditional thinking for offsets is that if you destroy 25 hectares of critically endangered banksia woodlands, you should preserve at least that amount somewhere else,” she told Ian.

“The difficulty we have in Western Australia is that we have destroyed these areas to such an extent, that they are critically endangered so it is very difficult for Main Roads to find like-for-like biodiversity assets that they can put into conservation.”