Mr Turnbull was in Armidale on Tuesday night and yesterday and met with members of the Armidale Dumaresq council, the Northern Inland Regional Development Association and with Alun Davies a recognised expert on the NBN in the region.

Mr Turnbull said while he appreciated the need for super-fast broadband in regional parts of the country, his concern was escalating installation costs.

“Towns like Bundarra, Ashford and Bendemeer currently have access to ADSL2 but because of their population size would not have fibre to their door, and would have to rely on satellite,” he said.

He said when Telstra’s copper wire access was switched off, the wireless option could only be described as equal to copper wire or could be even worse than current services.

He said his meeting in Armidale was a good example of being able to meet people on the ground and he wasn’t aware of this technological shortcoming until he’d came to Armidale.

Meanwhile the whistlestop tour through the region by Mr Turnbull has included a fact finding mission on coal seam gas with a tour of Santos’ facilities on the Liverpool Plains.

Accompanied by his wife Lucy – a former Sydney lord mayor – Mr Turnbull said more science must be provided to prevent any destruction of water aquifers on some of the country’s finest agricultural land.

“Clearly we cannot grow anything without water,” he said.

“Ground water resources are poorly understood.”

He said interfering with ground water resources without really understanding them was like “diving head first into a pool of water without first knowing how deep it was”.

He also raised concerns, referring to the previous state government, about them being a consent authority when they were in a position to benefit most.

“A lot of work needs to be done to regain the confidence of the community,” he said.

Mr Turnbull said he also met with independent political candidate Tim Duddy and other Liverpool Plains farmers on Monday.