Bob Brown rebukes Tasmanian windfarm project as the new Franklin dam

Former Greens leader says Robbins Island proposal could harm critically endangered birds and affect landscape's natural beauty

Bob Brown, one of Australia's most prominent environmental activists, says he opposes a major windfarm development because its towers will affect Tasmania's natural beauty and could kill endangered wildlife without any economic benefit for the state.

The former Greens leader said the $1.6bn Robbins Island development could harm migratory and critically endangered birds, and transmission lines to link the plant to a new power cable across Bass Strait would require a path to be cut through the Tarkine wilderness.