The National Broadband Network would provide internet access and speeds that would make it far easier for us all to learn, to be entertained and to develop new markets for existing and fledgling businesses.

We had already seen the amazing success of similar infrastructure investments overseas, with the experience of South Korea the absolute standout example.

Labor promised one big expensive system and was in the process of making that happen when they got booted out of power.

It was then the Coalition’s job to deliver the NBN, albeit a system that had far fewer bells and whistles.

This though, they explained, meant it was affordable and able to be delivered in a timely manner for all Australians, regardless of whether they lived in the big smoke or the bush.

It has been some years since the NBN first came to Ballarat and slowly it has been rolling out to the outer areas of the city and many regional towns.

 After the years of pain and uncertainty most people would say it has simply become part of life.

The staggering number of complaints and damage registered with council, the dodgy installers  and disruption have largely been forgotten as people slowly begin to assume the service is an essential addition to staying connected. 

The promise of amazing deals, with some equally amazing connection speeds has probably not materialised and the reality is somewhere between a nation changing dream and  relying on an increasingly archaic expensive copper network.

But where does that leave the smaller towns, outlying regions who have watched all this from afar or in many cases watch the satellites slide by overnight  and deliver them only comparatively slow speeds.

Some older people dont trust either and wonder what wil become of the fall back of a landline supported by copper wiring that at last gave them emergency services

The Victorian Farmers Federation fears that the NBN, for all its promise, won’t provide primary producers and rural families with either the reception or download speeds they need.

This week, the VFF will join will join with 16 other groups in a regional, rural and remote communications coalition in travelling to Canberra to lobby federal parliamentarians.

It is not unfair to say that the state’s regional centres generally have poor telecommunications technology, but it gets dramatically worse the further out one goes.

The VFF describes this situation as a “data drought” that is holding the nation’s farming sector – a sector that is forecast to be worth $63 billion in 2016-17 – back from reaching its full potential.

We support the communications coalition’s call for rural people to get their voice heard on these issues in order to find solutions.

Only then might regional Australia be truly heard.