A former magistrate judge and one of Australia's most experienced scientists launched an extraordinary attack on the NSW government's logging agency, calling it an effective "criminal organization" that should be closed after a series of court convictions.

Professor David Heilpern, NSW District Judge between 1998 and 2020, now the dean of the law school at Southern InterU, said the state's forestry companies should "disband" because it is no longer suitable for purpose.

The company has been convicted of more than a dozen environmental crimes, including a judgment in the Land and Environmental Court last year, and found that the agency could be reincarnated and has a poor prospect of recovery.

"If they were a cycling crowd, they would be a criminal organization. Anyone with faith would call it a criminal organization."

"Are they criminal organizations of legislative implications? The answer is no. But it is clear that any legal organization commits serious crimes in terms of environmental importance than ever before."

A NSW Forestry spokesman said Helpern’s advice was that comparing the company to a cycling gang would be “ridiculous”. "Forestry companies won't respond to this analogy," they said.

“Where violations occur, they are unintentional and without malicious intentions. Forestry companies deeply regret any violations and have invested heavily in their compliance systems and processes to minimize the space for human or technical errors.”

Heilpern's comment follows a judgment last year at the NSW Land and Environment Court, which failed to accurately map two areas of environmental significance at Yambulla State Forest, fined $360,000.

The court ruled that the forest agency had recorded 53 eucalyptus trees in one of the areas, causing actual damage to the trees and affecting the black summer bushfires, affecting local fauna and flora and shelter for fauna and fauna after the black summer bushfire.

The verdict also found that logging of trees caused potential harm to three threatened bird species living in the forest.

Rachel Pepper noted in his judgment that forestry companies’ “long record of previous convictions for environmental crimes”, including polluting forest waterways, inadequate investigations of threatened species, illegal harvesting of hollow trees and harvesting in Koala and Rainforest and Rainforest of toplet of tobufusion areas.

Pepper accepted the State Environmental Protection Agency’s advice that forest agencies could be re-inflicted and there was no good prospect for recovery.

This shows that forestry companies are “not suitable for legal and environmentally friendly management of our forests”, Helpern said.

"They are not involved in crimes that fail to cross or click on the i. They are crimes that involve illegal logging without proper environmental protection. This is completely unprecedented," he said.

"Whether you declare them a criminal organization or not, they are obviously not suitable for managing our forests. They should be dissolved."

The Minnesota government is under pressure to build the future of native forest logging in the state’s “Great Koala National Park” ahead of the 2023 election.

The park’s area continues to be recorded as community groups and conservationists await the government’s decision on the park’s boundaries. Since 2020-21, the Ministry of Forestry and Local Forestry has disclosed $72 million in losses, including $29 million in 2023-24.

David Lindenmayer, Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Conservation Biology at the Australian National University, said: “New South Wales Forestry has repeatedly sued in the Land and Environmental Environment Court – what does that tell us about the organization?

"From any perspective, it is indeed a criminal organization, a crime against the environment, a crime against biodiversity, a crime against state finances. Because when the organization commits these crimes, it actually loses money for the state."

A forestry company spokesman said the logging industry produces 4 million tons of wood each year, "as you would expect, the vast majority of these operations are fully in line with the law." They said the agency often “protects more trees in its actions than regulations require.”

A spokesman for NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said: “Comprehensive regulations have been put in place and the minister wants NSW forestry companies to comply with them.”

Greens MLC Sue Higginson criticized the state for "allowing and defending" the agency to continue to operate.

"For forestry companies, breaking the law and damaging the environment and wildlife has become like a Charades game that has been played under state protection," she said.

“They were caught, investigated, prosecuted, criminally convicted, fines – fines paid by the public – they kept moving forward and did it again.

“In this mode of operation, there is no integrity, accountability or justice.”