Greg was born in Victoria in 1965 and grew up on the Mornington Peninsula. In 1990, Greg graduated from Melbourne University with First Class Honours in Law. He won a Fulbright Scholarship and completed a Masters in International Relations at Yale University in the United States.

After university Greg became Associate to the Chief Justice of the Federal Court.

Between 1994 and 1998, Greg worked as a Senior Adviser to the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer. Greg then spent almost three years with McKinsey and Co.

Greg was elected as the Federal Member for Flinders in 2001. In 2004 he became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Environment and Heritage and in January 2007 was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

After the election of the Coalition Government in 2013, Greg was appointed Minister for the Environment.

As Environment Minister, Greg established an Emissions Reduction Fund which uses a reverse auction process to purchase abatement at the lowest cost. Complementing this is a Safeguard Mechanism which places limits on emitters to ensure this abatement is not offset by other emissions.

Australia recently co-chaired Montreal Protocol discussions in Dubai which agreed to plans to phase down hydroflurocarbons – resulting in a reduction in 90 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Greg established and hosted the inaugural Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit to halt and reverse the decline in rainforests. Australia is now leading work to establish a Global Rainforest Recovery Plan and an International Partnership for Blue Carbon through innovative co-operation with the private sector.

In Australia, Greg has implemented a suite of policies to protect the Great Barrier Reef including a historic ban on the disposal of capital dredge material, the establishment of a $140 million Reef Trust and a plan to manage the reef out to 2050.

Other key initiatives include establishing a programme to engage young Australians to protect the environment and the appointment of Australia’s first Threatened Species Commissioner.