Of Course There’s A ‘Bring Back The NBN’ Petition

So the Federal Election didn’t go the way of the geek. It’s tough to swallow for some of us, while others are fighting back with a new petition.

There’s a Change.org petition circulating right now around the web to get the Liberal Party to “reconsider [its] plan for a fibre-to-the-node national broadband network in favour of a fibre-to-the-home national broadband network”.

It needs 120,000 signatures to be considered a “successful petition”. Right now (at the time of writing, at least) it has just over 77,000 signed on.

The body of the petition complains that the fibre-to-the-node strategy proposed by the incoming Coalition government isn’t future-proof or up to snuff with other country’s standards.

It also adds that investment in technological infrastructure is being treated as second-rate spending to that required in the realm of hospitals and roads:

Broadband internet is an ‘infrastructure’ and should be considered in the same light as highways, water management, electricity and so forth; it should be a ‘right’ available ‘equally’ to all Australians. Broadband internet is one of many crucial building blocks which creates the underlying foundation for a successful nation. Superfast broadband is about more than connecting several family PCs, laptops, iPads, phones and other devices to the internet. It is about more than downloading ones favourite music, TV shows, movies or watching YouTube sensations. And yes, it is about more than being able to connect health and educational services, businesses and corporations. Having a well thought out, well implemented, and well maintained National Broadband Network is about ensuring the prosperity of Australians for generations to come. It is a vision shared by the Australian spirit and achievable through FTTH technology. It is due to this dream and the concern that it may not be met, that I and many Australians urge you to reconsider your proposal of a FTTN NBN in favour of a superior FTTH NBN. As your policy currently stands it is merely patch-work; a short term solution to a long term problem.

You can sign the petition here, but a quick word of caution: prepare yourself for disappoinment.

The Coalition isn’t about to backflip on its NBN policy just because 120,000 unhappy internet denizens said so. It was swept into power over the weekend with a strong mandate based on the policies it took to the electorate beforehand. All I’m saying to signatories is to steel yourselves for sadness. [Change.org]

Protest image via Shutterstock


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