Australia’s $23 billion forest products industry has accused the Australian National University of deliberately stalling a Freedom of Information request tied to the development of a new carbon credit model, warning that the delay threatens to undermine a critical government consultation. The model, if adopted, could see native forest harvesting halted across three states — New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland.
In a letter obtained by Wood Central and circulated widely in Canberra this week, the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) warned that its request, lodged in July, remained unresolved despite statutory deadlines. Wood Central understands that the FOI sought communications between ANU staff and agreements connected to the Improved Native Forest Management (INFM) method, which would generate carbon credits by ceasing native forest harvesting.
“ANU staff involved in this FOI request are delaying the processing of the request to avoid scrutiny and undermine a Commonwealth Government public consultation process on the INFM method that will soon commence,” the letter warned with the peak body for forest products arguing that the method “suffers from key integrity failures, particularly additionality and leakage and does not meet the evidence‑based standard required by the Australian Government’s Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC).”
It warned “that ceasing sustainable native forest harvesting leads to long‑term carbon benefits is not accepted science in Australia or internationally,” and that “the ACCU Scheme should not be misused to fund government projects at the cost of realising genuine carbon abatement.”
AFPA outlined a chronology of delays: extensions granted in September, apologies from ANU’s FOI team in October, citing high volumes of requests, and assurances in November that the matter would be resolved within 14 days. By December, the association said its attempts to secure updates were ignored. “This latest move by the ANU to stall the release of information under our FOI request creates further doubt,” the letter said.
Wood Central understands that the peak body has now escalated its concerns to senior figures, including the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, and senior members of the opposition and the crossbench. The concerns come amid criticism from Senator Ross Cadell, the Shadow Minister for Water, Emergency Management, and Fisheries and Forestry, over the timing of the consultation announced yesterday, which will run from January 2 to January 30 — spanning Christmas, New Year, and the Australia Day long weekend.
At Senate Estimates on Monday, Cadell pressed officials on the timeframe, noting it was capped at 28 days. “So it’s not 28 business days; it is 28 days, and we have Christmas, New Year’s and every day throughout that period,” he said. “Okay. That’s suboptimal, one might say.”
