Deputy Premier John Barilaro, who is also forestry minister, supports the commission’s work, a spokeswoman said.

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“The Deputy Premier and [Environment] Minister [Matt] Kean wrote to Minister Stokes to request he approach the NRC to undertake this work,” she said.

Some of the commission’s previous reports have provoked anger from the government, such as its review of the 2012 water-sharing plans for the Barwon-Darling River. Its draft report found over-extraction of water had brought forward drought conditions for parts of the river by three years.

Some of the commission reports on forestry have been created “in confidence” and made public after the government considered its advice. The agency is expected to deliver this latest report within three months.

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Harry Burkitt, a campaigner with the Colong Foundation for Wilderness, said “the whole purpose” of the commission’s report was to resolve differences between Forestry Corp and its regulator, the Environment Protection Authority.

The EPA said last month it would step up surveillance after talks with Forestry Corp over so-called site-specific logging rules to take into account bushfire damage on wildlife broke down.

“It’s clear the industry doesn’t want the public to know the entire economic model for cutting down the habit of threatened species is on the brink of collapse,” Mr Burkitt said.

A spokeswoman for Forestry Corp said her organisation supported the commission’s appointment to “advise on the pathway for renewable timber-harvesting operations in state forests”, including providing guidance in the event of future fires.

“We are actively participating in this review when and as requested by the NRC and while we await the outcomes, Forestry Corp is implementing additional environmental safeguards in operations on the south coast and Eden while on the north coast the majority of its operations remain in hardwood plantations,” the spokeswoman said.