NT Worksafe has been accused of avoiding media inquiries.

The government organisation reportedly quoted over $45,000 for a Freedom of Information request covering a list of incidents it investigated at the Inpex Bladin Point construction site.

NT News reporters say NT Worksafe told them it would cost $36,897 to “consider” and “consult” the 102 external businesses on the FoI request, with additional costings for just retrieving the information.

The CFMEU and the Electrical Trades Union - two unions representing workers on the Inpex site - have described the costings as unrealistic and designed to to stop information being released.

“Improving safety should be a transparent process,” ETU NT organiser Dave Hayes told the newspaper.

“Obviously personal details should be kept confidential but to put such a high price on showing real statistics is disgraceful,” he said.

“The project needs to come clean and recognise that many people have been hurt during construction and the management culture has to change. And by getting the true statistics, it can show where improvements need to be made and this should be embraced not obstructed.”

CFMEU NT organiser Kane Lowth says NT Worksafe is not “doing the job”.

“It's not up to NT Worksafe to protect big business,” he said.

“Having this sort of information more transparent would make the companies more accountable.”

NT Worksafe said is 363 incident reports made up over 3,200 pages of information.

“As required under the Information Act, all businesses must be consulted as a third party and all personal information redacted from the related documents,” a spokesperson said.

“Documents relating to incidents still under investigation need to be identified and removed as they are exempt.”

NT Worksafe reportedly estimated it would take around 332 hours (at a rate of $25 an hour) to retrieve the requested information, and an additional 1475 hours to “consider and make a decision, including consulting with businesses involved.”