The Berejiklian government ignored the advice of its own environment officers in approving new native logging rules, including a warning about reduced koala protection, according to an internal submission.

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws show the conservation unit of the Office of Environment & Heritage raised many concerns about the draft Integrated Forestry Operations Approval (IFOA).

Dailan Pugh , spokesman for the North East Forest Alliance, in the Cherry Tree State Forest. Credit:Jacklyn Wagner

One issue was the impact on the 300,000-odd hectare Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system set aside in 1999 to protect old-growth forest considered to have high conservation value.

The OEH team worried the informal protections could be eroded by inter-agency agreement without public consultation under the new rules. The proposed changes are "expected to significantly compromise the CAR reserve system over time", they said in their submission, obtained by the North East Forest Alliance.