Follow-up: Protecting Critically Endangered Grasslands

Why this is important

Natural Temperate Grasslands and Grassy Eucalypt Woodlands on the Victorian Volcanic Plain have been heavily degraded by land disturbance and agriculture, leaving them vulnerable to weeds.

In 2010, the Australian Government endorsed the Melbourne Strategic Assessment program under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This committed the Victorian Government to offset native vegetation loss from Melbourne’s growth areas, by creating a 15,000 hectare Western Grassland Reserve and a 1,200-hectare Grassy Eucalypt Woodlands Reserve by 2020.

Our 2020 report Protecting Critically Endangered Grasslands found that the government's acquisition of grassland was far behind schedule, reducing the ecological value of that land and increasing the cost of restoring it. The report provided 7 recommendations to improve the delivery of the Melbourne Strategic Assessment.

As of 2025, only 26 per cent of land for the Western Grassland Reserve had been acquired, and there was still no progress establishing the Grassy Eucalypt Woodlands Reserve, so it is timely to review this issue.

What we plan to examine

We plan to examine if the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action has implemented:

• the actions it proposed in response to the recommendations in our 2020 report Protecting Critically Endangered Grasslands 
• a strategy that can deliver the Melbourne Strategic Assessment's intended ecological offsets.

Who we plan to examine

Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action

Further information

This is a follow-up to our report Protecting Critically Endangered Grasslands (2020).