Native forest logging is a “dead parrot” costing the NSW budget $30 million a year and could be replaced by carbon farming, according to former federal Treasury boss Ken Henry.

Henry, in his capacity as chairman of the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, has written a pre-budget submission to the Minns government urging it to stop native forest logging in favour of generating carbon credits estimated to be worth $1.5 billion over 15 years.