Blog

I write about climate, human rights, biodiversity, and uncomfortable truths. From the wisdom of First Nations caring for Country to the global action needed to protect ecosystems and ensure intergenerational equity, these stories are personal, political, and urgent. They aim to inspire hope.

Explore my Yeah But... series for sharp takes on deflection, denial, and double standards. And scroll through Climate Conscious Man's reflections on what it means to live responsibly on a heating planet.

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Trump and Iran: Watch This Space

If you’re wondering like me what the Trump Regime’s next move will be on Iran, it’s worth looking at the logistics. This infographic isn’t official. It’s a best-effort snapshot stitched together from open sources. But the broad picture is hard to dismiss. The US is sending serious naval and air power into the Middle East, and it’s doing so with a tempo and density that looks far more like preparation for war than anything routine. Trump also just tightened the timeline at his

Gregory Andrews

1 day ago4 min read

Life Support in the Wild

#FloraAndFaunaFriday and the uncomfortable truth about Australia's Orange-bellied-parrot I first met the Orange-bellied Parrot when I was Australia’s Threatened Species Commissioner. Impossibly small. A small green and blue bird, with an almost defiant splash of orange on its belly. I could feel how close it was to the edge - not just as an individual, but as a species. Back in 2015, there were only about 50 left in the wild. I remember doing the maths back then. If you added

Gregory Andrews

3 days ago3 min read

Australia's Government Spends 26 Times More Harming Nature Than Protecting It

Every now and then a number lands like a slap. Less than $1 billion a year to protect biodiversity - and over $26 billion a year to harm it. That is not a policy quirk. That's what a deep dive into Australia's federal government budget numbers shows. This week, former CEO of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust , Paul Elton, released new research through the Australian National University that assessed federal budget numbers and incentives. It showed that our federal gover

Gregory Andrews

6 days ago2 min read

AUKUS: An Expensive Way To Make Australia Less Safe

Has anyone else noticed how Anthony Albanese spruiks AUKUS through the gloss of “jobs”. Yes, shipbuilding jobs are real jobs. They matter. But if a $368 billion strategic security investment has to rely on jobs ads, it's already confessing its weakness. Because AUKUS isn't a jobs programme with a side-order of submarines. It is a multi-decade, multi-hundred-billion-dollar commitment to a very narrow capability pathway, underwritten by the US political system which is increasi

Gregory Andrews

7 days ago5 min read

Earth’s Energy Imbalance: The Lid on the Pot

Most people talk “temperature” when discussing climate change. It’s the headline statistic because it is easy to understand. But there is another number that matters just as much, and in some ways more. It is called Earth’s Energy Imbalance, or EEI. If you have never heard of EEI, don’t worry, you’re not alone. But read on because it’s one of the cleanest ways to explain why the last couple of years have felt like the climate system has shifted up a gear. What EEI actually me

Gregory Andrews

Feb 153 min read

Apex, But Not Above The Law

Power, perspective and the wedge-tailed eagle - #FloraAndFaunaFriday There are few, if any, birds in Australia that command the sky like the Wedge-tailed Eagle. With a wingspan stretching close to three metres. Eyes that can read a paddock from kilometres away. And a presence that doesn’t flap and fuss - wedgies soar, steady and sovereign. And here’s something I’ve always loved: the female is larger than the male. As with most raptors, female wedgies outweigh and outspan thei

Gregory Andrews

Feb 132 min read

Renewables Dig Once, Fossil Fuels Dig Forever

We've all heard the “renewables require more mining” mantra from climate change denialists. It see a lot of it on my social media accounts - usually delivered with a smirk, as if the energy transition somehow collapses the moment someone mentions the need to mine lithium, copper or rare earths. Yes, renewables do require mining. But here’s the truth that the denialists never say out loud: a fossil fuel economy requires vastly more mining, every single year, and forever. Foss

Gregory Andrews

Feb 123 min read

NSW Police Violence: Call to Action

I've watched video from the Sydney Town Hall protest on 9 February 2026 opposing the visit of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog. I've heard directly from friends who were there. And I feel the same thing many Australians are feeling right now: shock, anger, and a sour, creeping fear about what our democracy is becoming. NSW Police say the situation escalated, that officers were assaulted, that pepper spray was deployed, and that people were arrested. But, footage circulating w

Gregory Andrews

Feb 103 min read

If Epstein is Trending, Why Isn’t +1.7°C?

The news cycle has become a hall of mirrors: Epstein, Trumpism, war, outrage, retribution. A thousand scandals designed to keep us anxious, tribal, and tired. We have to hold multiple truths at once: unfolding human atrocities, and something deeper accelerating quietly in the background - the rapid destabilisation of Earth’s climate system, the life-support system on which we all depend. Eminent climate scientist James Hansen and colleagues have just published a paper from C

Gregory Andrews

Feb 83 min read

Why I’ll Be Protesting Herzog

I will be at protests next week against the visit of Isaac Herzog, the President of Israel. I have never been a member of a political party. I am not part of any activist groups. I’ve never worn a keffiyeh. I’m not doing this as an activist. I am doing it as an Aussie who believes, deeply, in human rights and dignity for all, in justice and the rule of law, and in social cohesion. For most of my adult life, I worked inside government and diplomacy. I understand how important

Gregory Andrews

Feb 52 min read

What Building Aboriginal Relationships Really Looks Like

Everything every now and again something we do at Lyrebird Dreaming really stands out. Not just for what we learned or contributed, but for the lives and Country that are genuinely improved. Last year, one of those highlights was collaborating with the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure to develop and publish the Caring for Country Aboriginal Relationships Framework and Toolkit. Over almost a year, we facilitated more than 40 yarning sessions with Traditi

Gregory Andrews

Feb 52 min read

Foreign policy should not be exempt from democracy

I spent enough years inside the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to recognise the reflex: the minute the general public’s critique of foreign policy comes up, the room tightens. The tone shifts. The language gets colder. And an unspoken rule kicks in: foreign policy is “serious”, therefore it must be insulated from the messiness of the masses. If you challenged a domestic policy in Australia and the public got loud, no one in the system would say: “Sorry, the citizens

Gregory Andrews

Feb 24 min read

Call to Action: Write to your MP to Cancel Israeli President Visit

From 8-12 February, our government is planning to host Isaac Herzog, the President of Israel, as an act of so-called 'solidarity' after the horrific antisemitic attack at Bondi. Standing with Jewish Australians is essential. But it doesn't require extending official state hospitality to the most senior representative of a government that is under the gravest legal and moral scrutiny in the world. This is the man who has personally signed bombs dropped on Gaza. The Internation

Gregory Andrews

Jan 312 min read

Australia’s “Ice-Age” Eucalypt

I first met this rather innocuous looking tree on Yuin and Walbunja Country near Mongarlowe when I was Threatened Species Commissioner. I’d listed it as one of 30 endangered plants for urgent recovery. Why? Because it was alive before the pyramids were built! And I’m not talking about the species, I’m talking about this actual tree! There are only about six wild Mongarlowe Mallee trees left in the wild, each a multi-stemmed mallee growing out of a giant and ancient undergroun

Gregory Andrews

Jan 302 min read

Science Warns of Future Where Billions Bake

As southeastern Australia swelters through its second record-breaking heatwave within weeks, it’s important to connect the dots between the weather here and the global science on a warming world. A major new study from researchers at the University of Oxford has found that the number of people living with “extreme heat” will nearly double by 2050 if global warming reaches 2°C above pre-industrial levels. And we call know this is now a scenario that’s almost certain given the

Gregory Andrews

Jan 292 min read

Heatwaves are Australia's new normal. And they're going to get worse

Two weeks ago, south-eastern Australia baked through an intense heatwave. And this week, we're doing it again. If that feels like a pattern, it is. We keep talking about heatwaves as if they are unusual events that interrupt “normal” Australian summers. But what we are living through now is the new normal: heat that arrives more often, lasts longer, pushes further south, and loads the dice for catastrophic fires. Let's look at the numbers. In the current heatwave, parts of th

Gregory Andrews

Jan 273 min read

Rabbits, Racism and What’s Really Harming Australia

If Pauline Hanson really cared about Australia, she’d be targeting invasive species not Muslims These are the lawns outside the Australian Academy of Science ’s Shine Dome. Built in the late 1950s to celebrate discovery and curiosity, I always think of it as a giant Jetsons spaceship which has landed right in the middle of Canberra. And right there in front of it: dozens of rabbits. Calmly mowing the grass like it’s their job, like they belong there, like it’s how it’s alway

Gregory Andrews

Jan 252 min read

Science Under Siege

And why saving science is saving democracy The other night I fired off a quick tweet about the Albanese Government allowing CSIRO to shed another 350 scientists and research staff. The comments, forwards and likes went viral because people instinctively understand that this wasn't an obscure staffing matter. Sacking hundreds of scientists in the middle of a climate and extinction crisis is a choice about what sort of country Australia want to be. CSIRO is not a niche agency.

Gregory Andrews

Jan 234 min read

Laws Alone Can't Prevent Hate

Last night, Australia’s parliament passed a new package of laws aimed at combating antisemitism, hate and extremism. The government says it is about protecting communities from intimidation and violence. On its face, that’s a goal any decent person should support. I certainly do. My public life is built on nonviolent, peaceful direct action in defence of climate, Country, and human rights - which is to say, community. I have no patience for racism, nor for antisemitism, nor t

Gregory Andrews

Jan 214 min read

NATO’s mortal wound

Donald Trump has just announced punitive tariffs against Denmark, the UK, France, Germany and a swathe of European allies, explicitly tying their removal to the “complete and total purchase of Greenland” by the United States. He has framed this as a national security imperative, accused allies of endangering global peace, and threatened escalating economic punishment until they comply. If this stands, NATO as we have known it is finished. This isn’t bluster. It’s not theatre

Gregory Andrews

Jan 182 min read