Gregory Andrews, Lyrebird Dreaming

03/09/2026

This would be funny if it wasn’t so serious.

Canada is talking about reducing dependence on superpowers. Denmark is pushing back against Trump over Greenland.

Australia?

Richard Marles is welcoming an even bigger US military presence.

02/09/2026

Winter in Australia is being thinned out, pushed to the margins, and stripped of the cold that gives it meaning.

While we keep digging up coal and pumping out gas, we’re watching an Australian season begin to disappear.👇🏽

Australia’s winter didn’t disappear in one spectacular heatwave. The cold simply didn’t arrive.In Sydney this winter, not one day failed to reach at least 15 degrees - the first winter since observations began in 1859 without a day below 15°C. Canberra had just one day below 10°C. Brisbane h...

01/09/2026

More than 900 people are dead and over 4,000 are missing after the Nepal-Tibet floods, including 43 Australians.

While families wait for news, Pauline Hanson hammers a nail into a coffin for net zero.

A real coffin. This week.

Grotesque climate denial.

27/08/2026

For the people of Nepal, climate change is not an environmental issue.

When a glacier collapses, it becomes a question of who lives, who dies, who has water, who has a home and whether an entire community remains habitable.

That is human security.

The catastrophe in the Himalayas is also a warning about how we think about “security”. Security is not only armies, borders, submarines and weapons. It is also safe homes, secure food and water, functioning infrastructure, resilient communities and a stable climate.

Glaciers are not simply spectacular scenery. They store water and sustain rivers, agriculture, energy and communities across Asia. As the planet warms, rapid glacier loss can mean catastrophic flooding now — and declining water security later.

My latest blog looks at glaciers, climate change and human security, and why the terrible events in Nepal matter far beyond the Himalayas.👇🏽

https://www.lyrebirddreaming.com/post/collapsing-glaciers-climate-change-and-human-security

For the people of Nepal, climate change isn't just an environmental issue. When a glacier collapses, it's a question of who lives, who dies, who has water, who has a home and whether an entire community remains habitable. That's human security.This week’s catastrophic flooding in Nepal is an appal...

26/08/2026

Enough is enough.

Australia should not tolerate a foreign ambassador who treats our citizens, institutions and democracy with contempt.

Hillel Newman has publicly dismissed serious allegations made by Australians while the AFP is reportedly investigating. He has defended Israel’s handling of the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom. And he has attacked Australians for exercising their democratic right to protest.

An ambassador is a guest of Australia. Diplomatic status doesn’t give any foreign representative the right to sneer at our citizens, dismiss our police or denigrate our democratic debate without consequence.

This is not diplomatic engagement. It is deep disrespect - and Australia should stop accepting it.

The Albanese Government should declare Hillel Newman persona non grata and send him home. Israel can appoint another ambassador who respects Australia.

This is criticism of a diplomat and his government’s conduct - not Jewish people or Israelis generally. Antisemitism is real, dangerous and unacceptable. So is misusing it to avoid accountability.

Background: https://michaelwest.com.au/send-israeli-ambassador-hillel-newman-home/

24/08/2026

Conservation is more than w**d control, fencing and threatened species surveys.

It’s also about connecting people with Country.

Glad to partner with Conservation Council Act Region this weekend for a Branching Out walk in Namadgi.👇🏽

Last Sunday, I had the privilege of leading a group into one of the ACT’s most remarkable, and perhaps least appreciated, natural places: Nursery Swamp in Namadgi National Park.The walk was part of Branching Out, an ACT Conservation Council initiative designed to help more Canberrans get out into ...

23/08/2026

This El Niño is already breaking records, months before its peak. I call it the Godzilla El Niño.

But it isn’t even the biggest problem.

Read my new blog.👇🏽

https://www.lyrebirddreaming.com/post/godzilla-el-niño-is-here-and-it-isn-t-even-the-biggest-problem

21/08/2026

Imagine Australia’s Native Forests protected, restored and properly managed. Supporting clean water, carbon storage, culture, regional jobs and thriving nature-based tourism.

That future is worth far more than another truckload of logs.👇🏽

For today’s , the iconic species isn’t a single animal or plant. It's the entire forest. Spotted gums rising like pale columns above an ancient under-storey of burrawangs. Between and among them are hollows, fallen timber, leaf litter, fungi, insects, orchids, birds, bats and...

21/08/2026

Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom and six of her World Central Kitchen colleagues were killed in Israeli military strikes on their clearly marked aid convoy in Gaza in April 2024.

Now, more than two years later, the Israeli military has decided there is “no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct” warranting a criminal investigation.

Penny Wong says Australia has “no confidence” in that process. She says the outcome falls “far short” of the accountability Australia expected.

But what is Australia actually doing about it?

The Israeli Ambassador was called into Parliament House for a diplomatic dressing-down. Wong describes Australia’s relationship with Israel as being in a “difficult time”. She has rejected calls to expel the Ambassador.

That simply does not strike me as a response proportionate to what has happened.

An Australian humanitarian worker was killed. Her family has waited more than two years for justice. They are still asking for an independent and credible investigation, access to evidence Australia has repeatedly requested, and genuine accountability.

If our Foreign Minister really has “no confidence” in Israel’s investigation, then why is Australia effectively accepting its outcome?

Strong words are not the same thing as strong action.

Calling an ambassador in for a chat is not accountability.

Zomi Frankcom and her family deserve much more than diplomatic expressions of disappointment. The Australian Government should be using every available legal and diplomatic avenue to pursue an independent investigation and genuine accountability.

Sources: ABC News, 20 August 2026; SBS News, 20 August 2026.

20/08/2026

80% OF AUSTRALIANS ARE NOT ANTISEMITES.

A NSW Supreme Court judge has just demolished one of the most dishonest political smears being used in Australia today: that criticising Israel—or opposing Zionism—is the same as hating Jewish people.

Justice Desmond Fagan said it would be “preposterous” to suggest that the 79% of Australians who disapprove of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians are antisemitic.

He also attacked the IHRA definition championed by Australia’s antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, calling it “verbose”, “imprecise” and “detached from reality”.

This matters because real antisemitism is vile and must be confronted.

But Israel is a foreign state. Zionism is a political ideology. Neither is the Jewish people.

Weaponising accusations of antisemitism to silence criticism of Israel doesn’t protect Jewish Australians. It weakens the fight against genuine antisemitism while shielding Israel from accountability for Gaza.

Criticising Israel is not antisemitism.

Opposing genocide is not antisemitism.

And 80% of Australians are not antisemites.

The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/aug/19/justice-desmond-fagan-sydney-anti-israel-graffiti-incorrectly-labelled-antisemitic-supreme-court-ntwnfb

Australian Financial Review:
https://www.afr.com/politics/detached-from-reality-judge-slams-segal-s-test-for-antisemitism-20260818-p60pg2