In a series of emails, obtained by The Sunday Age, the university wrote to the Department of Sustainability and Environment in late January to express its concerns over the trial, designed to measure if cattle grazing cuts fire risk in the Alpine National Park.
‘‘Much of the work that is being proposed has already been done,’’ wrote the acting head of the school, associate professor Gerd Bossinger.
In his email, Dr Bossinger said previous studies had found the incidence of fire in the high country was not cut by cattle grazing.
In reply, Peter Appleford, an executive director of the Department of Sustainability and Environment, told the university it was ‘‘not the decision maker’’.
He wrote: ‘‘I request that [the University of Melbourne] do not consider the request to manage the contract ... in isolation of the broader operating environment — that is [the department] committing to an evergreen contract worth millions of dollars annually and the ability of [the university] to leverage that investment.’’
Mr Appleford, executive director of forests and parks, added: ‘‘If the [university] does not agree and chooses not to manage the contract ... the Department will enter into an arrangement with an alternate provider ... This may then impact future investment decisions.’’
The Sunday Age understands that a government deal to provide $3 million a year to the faculty for research is up for renewal, and that the two parties are negotiating a new contract that would see $3 million annual funding continue indefinitely.
Last night Dr Bossinger confirmed to The Sunday Age he had received Mr Appleford’s email and had contacted him about it.
‘‘We sorted it out and discussed what we meant and we put it to rest. We are in agreement now about how to take these things, so there is no threat and I don’t think there was one intended either,’’ Dr Bossinger said.
He said the contract for the University of Melbourne to oversee the trial was now before the university’s legal team.
The government made an election vow to the mountain cattlemen that they could return to the national park, where Labor banned cattle in 2005 on environmental and economic grounds.
The emails obtained by The Sunday Age reveal that the government has insisted Professor Mark Adams, of the University of Sydney, conduct the trial.
In 2009, the Mountain Cattlemen’s Association called Professor Adams an ‘‘ally’’ and said his work was ‘‘vital to our cause’’, pledging $10,000 to support it. The pledge was not accepted.
In his email, Dr Bossinger also raised concerns about taking on a research contract when ‘‘the current proposal provides funding exclusively to [the University of Sydney]’’.
Last night he said the funding arrangements had not changed.
University of Melbourne Professor Mark Burgman, director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis, said yesterday the government was attacking the university’s academic freedom.
‘‘To use a co-operative research venture to achieve clearly political goals is unconscionable. In my three decades in universities around the world, this is unique,’’ he said.
His colleague, ecologist Michael McCarthy, yesterday described the emails as ‘‘a veiled threat’’.
Ethicist Leslie Cannold said it was wrong for the government to use its fiscal power as a threat.
‘‘You’ve essentially got an academic institution that is being blackmailed,’’ she said.
Department spokeswoman Cathy Heycock denied Mr Appleford’s email was threatening. A spokeswoman for Environment Minister Ryan Smith stood by the department.
Labor’s environment spokeswoman Lisa Neville called for the trial to be reviewed
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