The Pilliga Doesn't Get to Speak in Parliament
- Gregory Andrews
- Nov 20, 2025
- 2 min read
Today I left the trucks of the Newell Highway for 100km or so of back roads through the Pilliga. It was quieter and softer on the nerves. That said, I do want to say up front that the truckies out here have been fantastic – slowing down, giving me space, and looking out for a lone cyclist on an e-bike.
Rolling under the eucalypts of the Pilliga, I couldn’t shake two thoughts. The first was fire. Climate change is loading the dice for hotter, drier, more destructive bushfires. Forests like the Pilliga evolved with fire, but not with the kind of relentless, high-intensity burns we’re starting to see. When fires come too hot and too often, the trees don’t get time to recover, the seed bank is cooked, the hollow-bearing giants disappear and with them go gliders, parrots and the little, hidden things that make this place alive. At a certain point, “fire-adapted” landscapes tip into something else - degraded country that can’t bounce back.
The second was gas. The Pilliga sits at the heart of the big coal seam gas push in north-west New South Wales. Locals know what that means: industrialisation of the forest, networks of roads and wells, and permanent contamination in the Great Artesian Basin and shallow aquifers that farms and communities depend on.
Fracking and CSG might look neat on a project map in Sydney or Canberra, but out here the scars and risks are real and long-lived. Once groundwater is polluted, there is no easy fix. It’s a form of slow, quiet poisoning.
So as I pedalled through the Pilliga, with my panniers rattling and the smell of dust and eucalyptus in the air, I kept coming back to the same question: what sort of economy is Australia choosing? One that treats places like the Pilliga as sacrifice zones for short-term fossil fuel profits? Or one that respects them as living, breathing Country - vital for climate, water, wildlife and culture - and backs a transition that keeps them standing?
The Pilliga doesn’t get to speak in Parliament. But riding through it today while feeling the heat, it felt very clear that our climate and gas decisions are writing this unique forest’s future in real time.
Thanks to Kamilaroi mobs for having me on their land.
I think that when fracking is raised as an option it should be qualified withe the following warning. WARNING, FRACKING IS AN IRREVERSIBLE PROCESS THAT DAMAGES THE EARTH. Mines can be remediated and filled in, but fracking can never be repaired. The carbon dioxide released from burning the gas and the gas leaked are great for doing one thing. Making the atmosphere retain heat. Every high school student knows the science but some politicians didn't front up when Footes work was being discussed.
I’m currently reading a fabulous book This One Wild and Precious Life written by Sarah Wilson and it’s resonance with your words on the Pillliga Forest is amazing. Admire your efforts on behalf of many.
Ah! the Pilliga Forest! It was one of my favourite havens when I lived in Narrabri. A Million Wild Acres by Eric Rolls describes how the forest was maintained by the local Kamilaroi people for thousands of years - and is well worth reading, though it was written a long time ago. It would be a real shame if this precious country was lost.