A petition pleading for the Federal Government to scrap its fibre to the node National Broadband Network (NBN) model was delivered to Lindsay MP, Fiona Scott, on Tuesday.
Vanita Roychoudhry, a mother and former IT manager, delivered the 270,000 strong petition to the local MP’s office on High Street, in coordination with more than 100 petition deliveries across the country.
Ms Roychoudhry said she was a strong supporter for the former Labor Government’s fibre to the home NBN plan and is disappointed that in Werrington where she lives, her family will not have that service.
“Parts of Penrith already have fibre to the home NBN but in Werrington we will miss out because Malcolm Turnbull only supports the fibre to the node delivery model,” she said.
“I am just a mother looking out for the future of my children and we need to leave them this infrastructure legacy so that they can grow up saying they come from a smart country.
“If we do not have fibre to the home broadband installed now, we will be even further behind countries such as Singapore, and in 20 years will be going through the same process.”
Started on the weekend of the Federal Election by Queensland student Nick Paine, the petition led to the creation of fibre-to-the-premises supporter groups across Australia.
Ms Roychoudhry was formerly an IT manager for a large supermarket chain but was made redundant and from her own personal expertise says that fibre to the home NBN is a necessity.
“More and more of our IT jobs are being sent overseas and our smartest people leaving because Australia is falling behind,” she said.
“Having fibre to the home will increase our competitiveness, create innovation and allow people to work from home.
“There is the option to pay for fibre to the home connections, but people such as myself and my family cannot afford it, we are being disadvantaged.”
Ms Scott said that she has already presented the petition to Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
“We are about delivering NBN to more people faster, this is a cost effective NBN for all Australians,” she said.
