NBN fans rally to sway Turnbull
An online crowd-funding group has raised more than $25,000 in two days for ads in community newspapers calling on the minister to "build the NBN that Australia is asking for".
The project was started by the same group of students in their 20s that started an online petition calling on Mr Turnbull to reconsider the Coalition's fibre-to-the-node plan for the "superior" fibre-to-the-premises network.
This has attracted more than 266,400 signatures since being launched by Queensland student Nicholas Paine the day after the election.
Mr Paine has since formed a group that was asking for donations to fund an advertisement in the Wentworth Courier.
Mr Turnbull holds the seat of Wentworth with a comfortable margin of 17.7 per cent, but the group said it would also advertise in marginal electorates of newly elected Liberal MPs if it raised
more than the initial target of $15,000.
By noon on Friday they had raised $25,499 on crowd funding site Indiegogo and were accepting donations for nine more days. "We want to go beyond the political divide that is occurring at the moment ... We believe that fibre to the premises will be a lot cheaper to run in the long term," spokesman Alex Stewart said.
Mr Turnbull said he welcomed more advertising for his local paper. He has previously responded to the petition by saying he would not walk away from the election result.
"While I respect the enthusiasm of those who have contributed to crowd funding this advertising, I know the Wentworth community very well and overwhelmingly they are very keen to find out how much this project is going to cost, in time and dollars, and how a rational government might go about making the rollout more efficient," he told Fairfax Media on Friday.
Crowd funding was recently used by technology news website Delimiter to raise more than $2000 to pay for a freedom-of -information request for the incoming government briefing, known as the Blue Book, on the NBN.
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
Broadband supporters launched an online crowdfunding campaign to pay for newspaper ads in Malcolm Turnbull’s Wentworth electorate urging the Communications Minister to keep Labor’s fibre-to-the-home National Broadband Network (NBN) rather than the Coalition’s fibre-to-the-node plan.
The group raised more than $25,000 in two days and by noon on Friday had raised $25,499 on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, with donations still being accepted for nine more days.
The project was started by a group of students in their 20s. Queensland student Nicholas Paine launched the petition the day after the election and later formed the group seeking donations for newspaper advertising; spokesman Alex Stewart has also spoken for the group.
Campaigners are asking for Labour’s fibre-to-the-home (also described as fibre-to-the-premises) NBN, arguing it is superior to the Coalition’s fibre-to-the-node plan and will be cheaper to run in the long term.
The initial ads were planned for the local Wentworth Courier and other community newspapers. The group said it would also advertise in marginal electorates of newly elected Liberal MPs if it raised more than its initial $15,000 target.
Mr Turnbull said he welcomed more advertising for his local paper, has previously indicated he won’t walk away from the election result, and told Fairfax Media that his community wants to know the project’s cost in time and dollars and how a rational government could make the rollout more efficient.
Yes. The technology news site Delimiter used crowdfunding to raise more than $2,000 to pay for a freedom-of-information request for the incoming government briefing on the NBN, known as the Blue Book.
Supporters argue that fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) is a superior option that will be cheaper to operate in the long term and that their campaign aims to move the debate beyond political divisions to focus on long-term efficiency and costs.
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