1 hour ago
2
The report raises the alarm on the declining status of the golden sun moth, one of Victoria’s rarest insects.
“Urgent management intervention is required to improve the current declining trend,” the report warns.
The growling grass frog – often championed by developers as a creature that inhabits wetlands in Melbourne’s western and northern growth corridors – faces localised extinction without more protection, including the creation of habitat corridors so that fragmented populations can breed.
“The species’ population has been declining within the [urban growth boundary] due to disturbances, including urban expansion and diseases,” the report says.
The commissioner’s office also found that Parks Victoria had drastically reduced its management of the grasslands.
In 2018, Parks Victoria completed land management for 2000 hectares of grassland reserve, but only 185 hectares by 2023. Parks Victoria told the commissioner’s office that this was because its funds only covered “essential works on assigned land parcels”, and prevented it from committing to medium-term works.
Meanwhile, the condition of the grasslands degraded between 2013 and 2023, which worsens the outlook for species such as the striped legless lizard, matted flax-lily and spiny rice-flower.
Professor Sarah Bekessy, of RMIT University and a lead councillor on the Biodiversity Council, said Victoria’s grasslands – which once stretched to South Australia – were in danger of disappearing before our eyes.
“There’s a fair chance we are going to see the extinction of that ecosystem in the near future,” she said.
“It’s a shocking indictment on this government that they have not had the courage to stand up for an ecosystem that is going extinct under their watch. And for what reason? To build housing.”
Grasslands expert Sarah Bekessy on the badly neglected Western Grassland Reserve.Credit: Paul Jeffers
Bekessy said the grasslands were also culturally important to the Wurundjeri people and fundamental to the foundation of Melbourne, having lured graziers north from Tasmania in the 1830s.
“They are basically the reason Melbourne exists,” she said.
Interim Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Helen Vaughan said in her foreword to the report that land acquisition, weed control and managing illegal waste dumping were key challenges to be overcome.
“The ongoing challenge of progressing these issues suggests that the natural value of the Western Grassland Reserve, grassy eucalypt woodland and the 36 conservation areas is not yet fully appreciated by local communities,” Vaughan wrote.
Loading
Illegal dumping – mainly refuse from housing demolitions – was on the rise, the report said.
Most of the land earmarked for the reserve remains in private hands, with an acquisition overlay in place. Some landowners have entered into agreements to manage weeds on their properties, but the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action often has no data on this.
Funding for acquiring the reserves comes from a levy imposed on developers, who make offset payments for clearing grasslands elsewhere in Melbourne.
The department is reviewing the levy due to concerns it is too low to meet the cost of acquiring land.
Dr Adrian Marshall, facilitator of the Grassy Plains Network, said the government should make an upfront purchase of all the Western Grassland Reserve land, conservation areas and the grassy eucalypt woodland reserve.
Marshall said the Allan government was failing to uphold environmental laws and the Albanese government was missing in action despite signing off the plan.
“In the western and northern edges of Melbourne good patches of environment that could have benefited the whole community are cleared for developer profit, while weeds swamp supposedly protected grasslands and grassy woodlands,” he said.
The state government has been contacted for comment.
