Latest news with #ChrisBarrie
BBC News
08-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Glimpse of how Oldham's new Jubilee Park could look
Images of how a new town centre park will look have been Council has revealed that the six-acre Jubilee Park stretching from St Mary's Way to Henshaw Street will open in March will cover the Tommyfield indoor market, which is due to be demolished later this year, and the former Rock Street car park."The park will be fully self-sustaining, featuring solar powered lighting and wildlife friendly spaces," a spokesperson said on the council's Facebook page. An animated "flythrough" shows the park is arranged around a large kidney-shaped lawn surrounded by mature trees. Paths wind through wooded areas, leading to a climbable rock formation to the west and a play area made of natural materials to the east. Picnic benches are dotted nearby to the playground, along with "stepping stone" logs offering secret paths through the park will operate as a green space and a cut through for pedestrians and cyclists, with street lights regularly spaced throughout the park for safety. 'Online debate' The video has spurred debate online, with more than 200 Oldham residents sharing their thoughts on the raised doubts about building a new green space in the town centre instead of bringing new shops to the area, especially with the borough's much-loved Alexandra Park just a ten-minute walk from the town centre. Others were concerned about cleanliness and crime."Which section will be for fly-tipping?" Oldham resident Chris Barrie many residents defended the plans from other "whingeing" locals, saying they should "give it a chance", the Local Democracy Reporting Service Davies said: "Initiatives like this are just what is needed in Oldham. Towns all over England are changing. "The shopping experience has changed dramatically, therefore town centres are changing and need to adapt." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Vandals in the White House' no longer reliable allies of Australia, former defence force chief says
A former Australian defence force chief has warned 'the vandals in the White House' are no longer reliable allies and urged the Australian government to reassess its strategic partnership with the United States. Retired admiral Chris Barrie spent four decades in the Royal Australian Navy and was made a Commander of the Legion of Merit by the US government in 2002. He is now an honorary professor at the Australian National University. 'What is happening with the vandals in the White House is similar to what happened to Australia in 1942 with the fall of Singapore,' Barrie said. 'I don't consider America to be a reliable ally, as I used to. 'Frankly, I think it is time we reconsidered our priorities and think carefully about our defence needs, now that we are having a more independent posture... Our future is now in a much more precarious state than it was on 19 January.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'Trump 1.0 was bad enough. But Trump 2.0 is irrecoverable.' Barrie said it was 'too soon' to say whether Australia should end its multibillion-dollar Aukus partnership, but raised concerns about a lack of guarantee that nuclear-powered submarines would actually be delivered. He also warned about an apparent lack of a back-up option. Pillar One of the Aukus deal – which would see the US sell Australia nuclear-powered submarines before the Aukus-class submarines were built in Australia – is coming under increasing industry scrutiny and political criticism, with growing concerns the US will not be able, or will refuse, to sell boats to Australia, and continuing cost and time overruns in the development of the Aukus submarines. 'Let's define why we really need nuclear submarines in the first instance, given a new independent defence posture for Australia,' Barrie said. 'If they still make sense in that context, fine. But they might not. There might be alternatives. There might be alternatives with conventional submarines if we didn't want to go any further than the Malacca Straits.' Barrie's warning comes after former foreign minister, Bob Carr, said Australia would face a 'colossal surrender of sovereignty' if promised US nuclear-powered submarines did not arrive under Australian control. Carr, the foreign minister between 2012 and 2013, said the Aukus deal highlighted the larger issue of American unreliability in its security alliance with Australia. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'The US is utterly not a reliable ally. No one could see it in those terms,' he said. '[President] Trump is wilful and cavalier and so is his heir-apparent, JD Vance: they are laughing at alliance partners, whom they've almost studiously disowned.' The US Congressional Research Service has proposed an alternative under which the US would not sell any submarines to Australia; instead, it would sail its own submarines, under US command, out of Australian bases. When asked if he trusted Donald Trump earlier this week, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said 'what sort of question is that?'. 'I mean, he's the president of the United States,' Albanese said. 'He's elected as the president of the United States. I'm the prime minister for Australia. He's entitled to pursue his agenda, of course. But I'm entitled to defend Australia's national interest and that's what we're doing.' Opposition leader Peter Dutton, speaking at the Lowy Institute this week, said 'the United States is still, and must always be, our most important partner'. But he criticised the Trump administration's decision to impose tariffs on Australia. 'We disagree with president Trump's decision to apply these tariffs: they're not just unjustified, they benefit neither Australia or the United States.'
The Guardian
27-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Australia news live: former ADF chief warns nuclear power plants could be war targets; Greens unveil arts policy
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Australian nuclear reactors could become a target of war if the federal coalition was to go ahead with plans to build them, AAP reports. The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group, a group of former defence leaders, has warned that the plan to build seven small nuclear reactors across five states on the sites of coal-fired stations could leave Australia vulnerable to missile warfare and sabotage. One of its members, former ADF chief Chris Barrie, said modern warfare was increasingly being fought using missiles and unmanned aerial systems. Every nuclear power facility is a potential dirty bomb because rupture of containment facilities can cause devastating damage. With the proposed power stations all located within a 100 kilometres of the coast, they are a clear and accessible target. Former defence department director of preparedness and mobilisation Cheryl Durrant cited the Ukraine-Russia war where both sides have prioritised targeting their opponents' energy systems. Australia would be no different. Share Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I'm Martin Farrer, bringing you the best of the overnight stories, and then it will be Emily Wind to take you through to the weekend. Our lead story this morning is a report into the third-party groups campaigning to reduce 'Green and teal growth' at the federal election. Third-party groups are preparing federal election campaigns that include accusations that the Greens and teal independents threaten 'Australia's economic and social stability', and also focus in part on their views on the Israel-Gaza war. More to come. Creative Australia's chief executive should be sacked and its board spilled with a comprehensive review of the funding body, the Greens have said. The party, which releases its arts election policy today, said the creative sector was in turmoil after the biennale fiasco, job cuts and festival cancellations. More coming up. And a group of senior defence experts have warned that proposed nuclear power plants in Australia could be targets in case of war. More on that too soon. Share
