PARK WATCH Article March 2026 |

Adrian Marshall, Facilitator, Grassy Plains Network, on MSA’s 2024 Audit

Released at the end of last year, the long-awaited 2024 audit of the Melbourne Strategic Assessment (MSA) focuses on its progress on expected conservation outcomes. It reveals a mixed report card.

The 2010 MSA deal between the Victorian and federal governments greenlit development in Melbourne’s growth corridors, regardless of threatened wildlife or habitats at development sites. In exchange, developers paid a levy which funds purchase of the promised Western Grassland Reserve (WGR), Grassy Eucalypt Woodland Reserve, 36 Conservation Areas, and 1600 ha of additional grassland habitat.

The wins

There’s more Striped Legless Lizards (Delma impar) across the WGR than expected. Matted Flax-lily (Dianella amoena) populations are stable, as are Southern Brown Bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus obesulus). Large-fruit Groundsels (Senecio macrocarpus) are going well. Wyndham City Council’s interim management program, aimed at looking after future WGR land before it gets handed to Parks Victoria, is producing great results.

The worries

Golden Sun Moths (Synemon plana) are in decline, with declining suitable habitat. The range of different plants usually found in Seasonal Herbaceous Wetlands is disappearing. Spiny Rice-flowers (Pimelea spinescens) are dying with few new plants growing, for no clear reason. Rabbits are still destroying the country’s most important population of Button Wrinklewort (Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides).

Developers are trashing grasslands before the government can purchase them. This means a lot of hard work and extra expense to turn them around. Plus, developers waste MSA resources playing legal games.

Once land is acquired, it improves. But before purchase, habitat health has mostly been in decline. Faster acquisition is therefore vital. But funds aren’t available because the levy is paid only as Melbourne grows. There are two options: raise the levy, or pay for upfront purchase. Both are essential to stop the decline.

Land purchase challenges

We need to protect the last best bits of our grasslands before they’re destroyed.

A lot of the WGR is in poor health. It’s important, but not the priority. High-quality patches of grassland should be purchased and protected first. The Conservation Areas include some excellent values and should be a priority.

Practically all the promised Grassy Eucalypt Woodland Reserve is privately owned with no way to acquire it without a politically risky Public Acquisition Overlay. A big challenge.

As compensation for impacts within Melbourne’s growth corridors, the MSA is required to purchase good, occupied habitat in rural Victoria for Matted Flax-lilies (529 ha), Spiny Rice-flowers (394 ha) and Golden Sun Moths (680 ha) – a total of about 1600 ha.

A focus on purchasing that 1600 ha could bring real wins. In other words, good-quality grassland, not yet trashed by developers, that can be protected. These would be reserves providing much-needed green spaces for local communities while protecting the best of our grasslands.

The MSA needs to act now before they’re destroyed.

When fully acquired, the WGR is promised to include at least 10,000 ha of grassland to offset grassland destroyed in growth corridors. Current estimates suggest a 3000 ha shortfall. Plus, a huge restoration effort is needed in purchased grasslands. But there’s no sign that’s happening. Where’s the infrastructure to produce the vast amount of seed needed to restore thousands of hectares of grassland?

Audits threatened

The recent Silver Review into the public service recommends changing audits from every two years to five. That would be a disaster.

The MSA needs strong public oversight. Only two years ago the MSA declined to tell us how many of the 36 Conservation Areas had been purchased and what condition they were in. We had to do our own People’s Audit just to find out. Last year they stood by while 40 ha of grassland at Faulkners Road, Mount Cottrell, was methodically destroyed.

The MSA is a hugely important conservation program for one of the country’s most threatened habitats. For it to succeed, we need transparency. Diminishing scrutiny and progress towards conservation goals could have drastic consequences.