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Energy and Environment Minister Matt Kean has pushed for more timely releases after the Coalition government had sat on years of land-clearing data. From next June, he will release the figures at the end of each financial year.

“I understand people care deeply about conserving our natural landscapes – I do too," Mr Kean said. "I’ve instructed that, going forward, this data is released annually.”

The newest figures follow Thursday's release by the Audit Office of a highly critical report on the implementation of the new vegetation laws.

Not only have clearing rates sharply risen, there are many information gaps – such as how much extra clearing there has been along fence lines – while enforcement has also been "weak".

“Without easy access to landholder contact information, OEH has difficulty communicating with landholders to discuss investigations of unlawful clearing," the report noted. "Staff advised that, in a low-priority investigation, if several attempts have been made to contact a landholder to no avail, the case is likely to be closed with no further action taken.”

Bronwyn Petrie, chair of the conservation and resources management committee for NSW Farmers, said much of the clearing was based on landholders being able to "properly and effectively" rid their properties of invasive wood weeds.

"They should be applauded. That [clearing] is rehabilitation of the land," Ms Petrie said.

She said the Audit Office was wrong to imply enforcement of the clearing codes had been lacking. "OEH has been investigating," Ms Petrie said. "There's no free ticket out there."

However, one OEH staffer told the Herald that it "was pretty sobering how much land clearing is going on", adding "it's a lot worse than people realise".

"I can't see any reason why it would be any slower" during the financial year that's just about to end, the official said.  Much of the clearing involves converting grazing land to "intensive cropping", with the use of lasers to level the ground with "every tree gone".

Among the clearing hotspots in the 2017-18 year was the Central West region, where the deforested area more than doubled in 12 months to 8430 hectares.

“Deforestation in NSW is now out of control – bushland is being bulldozed for agriculture at the fastest rate since 2003," Brad Smith, the campaigns director for the NSW Nature Conservation Council, said.

The council joined politicians such as Labor's Penny Sharpe and independent MP Justin Field in calling for an immediate halt to code-based clearing and an independent review of the changes.

“We are in an extinction and climate emergency – we must stop destroying wildlife habitat if we are going to stop more species disappearing."

Adam Marshall, the agriculture minister, said farmers were "our best environmental stewards and these figures just demonstrate how effectively and responsibly they’re managing the land.”

“Like any business owners farmers require certainty to run effective operations," he said. "Approvals for land management are critical in allowing them to forward plan and produce the best food and fibre .”