Gregory Andrews
Australian High Commissioner to Ghana and West Africa
In office
26 June 2020 – 25th December 2021
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterScott Morrison
Preceded byAndrew Barnes
Succeeded byBerenice Owen-Jones

Gregory Andrews (born 1968) is the former Australian High Commissioner to Ghana and West Africa for promoting Australia's oil and gas projects.

Early life and education

He was born in Sydney in 1968 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and is a Dharawal man of shared Aboriginal and European ancestry.[1] Andrews holds a Master of Arts (Foreign Affairs and Trade) from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Economics majoring in Econometrics with First Class Honours from the University of Newcastle.[2]

Diplomatic career

Andrews joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a graduate in 1992.

Andrews served as Assistant Secretary, International Organisations Branch. He has previously served overseas as First Secretary, Australian Embassy, Beijing. From 2017 to 2019, Andrews was Australia's national focal point for the Responsibility to Protect and represented Australia in United Nations, bilateral and non-government negotiations on atrocity prevention.[3][4]

In 2020 Andrews was appointed as Australia's High Commissioner to Ghana to Ghana and West Africa for promoting Australia's oil and gas projects.[5] His appointment was reportedly marred with controversy based on his support for marginalised people such as so called accused witches and Ghana's LGBT community.[6] On 20 December 2021, it is reported that the Australian Government ended Andrews appointment to Ghana, and he was returned home.[7][8]

Andrews served as Australia's deputy chief climate negotiator to the United Nations.[9]

Australian Public Service

In the lead-up to the Northern Territory Intervention, Andrews was accused by journalist Chris Graham as having posed as an anonymous ″former youth worker″ during a report on ABC Lateline’s 2006 coverage of sexual violence in remote Aboriginal communities.[10] At the time, Andrews was actually an Assistant Secretary in the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination (OIPC) and many of the claims made on camera were found to be fabricated - but a media frenzy around sexual violence in Aboriginal communities grew.

Chris Graham claimed in the National Indigenous Times that Andrews claimed to have lived in the Aboriginal community of Mutitjulu and made several claims of child abuse occurring within the community. Graham said one noteworthy claim made by Andrews was that “Young people were hanging themselves off the church steeple on Sunday and their mothers were having to cut them down.” Graham claimed that local police were contacted to verify this claim, and police subsequently confirmed at the time that no child had ever hung themselves from the Mutitjulu church, nor had a mother ever had to cut her child down.

But it was later discovered that Andrews had never lived in Mutitjulu as he had claimed, but instead while working at Mutitjulu had lived in a one-bedroom apartment on the other side of Uluru near Ayers Rock tourist resort, 20kms away.[11]

When the Labor Government who were in opposition at the time, learned that Andrews may not have been truthful in his reports, they summonsed Andrews to appear before the Senate. The Secretary of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs intervened, and Graham claimed that Andrews became the first bureaucrat in parliamentary history to avoid a Senate Estimates grilling on the grounds that he was “too stressed” to appear.[12]

Climate Hunger Strike

On November 2, 2023, Andrews begun a hunger strike on the lawns of Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia protesting the lack of government action on climate change.[5] Andrews was taken to hospital after a 16-day hunger strike ending the longest hunger strike for climate action by a single person in Australia. His petition received over 4,500 signatures.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Aidt, Mik (17 November 2023). "I'm doing this for my kids and country". Centre for Climate Safety.
  2. ↑ High Commissioner to Ghana foreignminister.gov.au 26 June 2020
  3. ↑ https://www.globalr2p.org/publications/summary-of-the-eighth-annual-meeting-of-the-global-network-of-r2p-focal-points-helsinki-finland-june-2018/
  4. ↑ https://r2pasiapacific.org/files/623/spotlight_jul2018_issue45_4th_chna-aus_dialogue_peacekeeping_accountability_for_prevention.pdf
  5. 1 2 "Gregory Andrews used to be a senior Liberal adviser. Now he's 14 days into a climate action hunger strike". ABC News. 15 November 2023 – via www.abc.net.au.
  6. ↑ https://www.vice.com/en/article/3anmbv/ghanas-lgbtq-community-is-under-siege-and-politicians-are-leading-the-attacks
  7. ↑ "Australia's man in Ghana reportedly recalled over support for LGBTI people". OUTinPerth. 14 December 2021.
  8. ↑ Ayamga, Emmanuel (13 May 2021). "'I'll beat him!' - Sam George warns Australian High Commissioner over LGBT pressure". pulse.com.gh.
  9. ↑ Foley, Mike (17 November 2023). "From diplomat to hunger striker: Gregory defied his fear of death to fight fossil fuels". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  10. ↑ Graham, Chris (23 June 2017). "Bad Aunty: 10 Years On, How ABC Lateline Sparked The Racist NT Intervention (With Introduction By John Pilger)". newmatilda.com.
  11. ↑ Graham, Chris (2 July 2014). "ABC Lateline's 'Fake Youth Worker' Wins Plum Abbott Govt Job". newmatilda.com.
  12. ↑ Graham, Chris (22 June 2015). "Seven years on, how ABC Lateline sparked the racist NT intervention". redflag.org.au.
  13. ↑ "Climate activist taken away in ambulance on day 16 of hunger strike". skynews. 17 November 2023.
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