Father-of-two who quit his $250,000 job and is now starving himself outside Parliament House rejects conspiracy theory about his protest and insane plan to die

EXCLUSIVE

A diplomat-turned-climate activist who is ‘camping’ outside Parliament House and refusing to eat until the Albanian government ends fossil fuel subsidies says he is prepared to die for the cause – but he has not told his children.

Gregory Andrews, 55, worked with the government for 30 years as ambassador to West Africa and as Australia’s deputy chief climate negotiator at the United Nations.

But in late 2021, he set aside his $250,000 salary to become a full-time climate activist because he was “tired of being asked to promote fossil fuels.”

“During a climate crisis, I couldn’t live with myself if I kept doing that,” he told Ny Breaking Australia, from a swag on the lawn at Canberra’s Capital Hill.

Thursday was the eighth day Andrews has gone without food, in protest against Australia’s coal and gas exports and native forest clearing.

The father-of-two survives on a diet of water and the occasional half teaspoon of salt to maintain his electrolytes, but insists he feels “stronger than I’ve ever been.”

He hopes his act of defiance means Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be forced to answer uncomfortable questions about the country’s climate policy next week when he returns from his latest international jaunt.

“The Prime Minister is finally being held to account and next week when they come back, people will be asking them questions,” he said.

If the government ignores his protest, Andrews plans to stop eating indefinitely.

He can’t camp outside Parliament House because it’s illegal. Instead, his 16-year-old son takes him home every night and his wife brings him back at 5:30 every day.

“I didn’t tell my children that I was willing to die, we left that a bit ambiguous,” he said.

“If I told them I was going to die, I don’t know what they would say… but they support me 100 percent and my daughter came to see me.”

Andrews enjoyed his last meal with his family last Wednesday, which ended with gulab jamun – a popular dessert in India – before he stopped eating altogether.

He said the first three days of his fast were the most difficult and he struggled to walk to the bathroom without wanting to pass out, but said the situation has improved since his body went into starvation mode.

He dismissed a conspiracy theory circulating at X that claims he eats food every night in the privacy of his home.

One X user said: ‘Are you serious? He packs up the dog and goes home for a shower and I guess dinner at the dining room table with his family.”

Another wrote: ‘The fact that he goes home every night and comes back in the morning means he is not on hunger strike. It’s a scam.’

A third person suggested he was on a ‘part-time hunger strike’.

In response, Mr Andrews said: ‘The people making these claims are climate deniers, bullies and trolls. I feel bad for them. Climate change is not a belief like religion. It’s a reality.’

‘Every night I go home and go straight to bed.

“My wife helps me change into my pajamas because I’m too weak to do it alone.”

He has lost five kilos in eight days and expressed concern that in a month’s time – when the UN’s COP 28 climate conference starts in Dubai – he will have lost about a third of his body weight.

“Then I’ll have organ failure,” he said.

Despite the prospect of his body shutting down, Mr. Andrews is he was more concerned about the impact the hunger strike could have on his heart condition, and became emotional as he explained this.

‘“I have an enlarged heart and a murmur,” he said.

‘I have a friend who monitors my vitals and I have high blood pressure. I didn’t have that before, but the blood pressure is up now, so I could be having a heart attack.’

In the event he suffers a medical episode and is taken to hospital, Andrews claims he will continue his hunger strike once he is released.

He has a permit to protest in the area, but that expires on December 13.

“I thought if nothing happened, I’d probably be dead by then,” he said.

“I would much rather see the outcome and I want Anthony Albanese to sit here and listen to my concerns.”

Andrews’ hunger strike has drawn heavy criticism, including from Conservative pundit Andrew Bolt, who called him a “bad parent” on his Sky News program on Wednesday night, but the former diplomat was undeterred.

“Today it’s raining, so I only had six visitors, but yesterday there were almost a hundred people,” he said.

“The support from my wife and kids and my mom and random strangers is really encouraging.”

But it is Mr Albanese, far away in China, who he really wants to see.

“The determination and courage of Albanians are indicative of leading something that would be very difficult to win from the start,” he said.

“I just wish he would show the same determination when it comes to real climate action.”