IN THE debate leading up to the election, everyone is acknowledging the mess that has been made of building our telecommunications infrastructure – the NBN.

Copper cables here, satellite service there, fibre to the node (FTTN) but not fibre to the premises (FTTP).

All at a cost to taxpayers and all because one political party didn’t want to be doing the same as its opposition.

But to play politics over this is certainly holding us back and compromising us as a nation now and into the future.

Recently, Mike Quigley, the first chief executive of the NBN and former executive at telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent, weighed into the debate with information that confirms my worst fears – that we will lose this fantastic opportunity for Australia because the Coalition is playing politics instead of having a vision for our future.

These are his words: “It is such a pity that so much time and effort has been spent trying to discredit and destroy the original FTTP-based NBN. And equally a pity that the Coalition has put their faith in what has turned out to be a short-sighted, expensive and backward-looking MTM (mixed technology model) based on copper. The nation is going to be bearing the consequences of those decisions for years to come in higher costs and poorer performance in an area that is critical for its long-term future.”

But we are already bearing the costs – particularly in the country.

After sharing my family’s story of living in a telecommunications third world (no mobile or television reception, no fixed telephone line available due to disrepair, and substandard satellite internet) on ABC’s Tamworth Q&A, I have been approached by many others with similar stories of neglect.

Businesses that could be thriving, individuals who could be doing further education, children who can’t do online schoolwork, a university lecturer who can’t put comprehensive material in her online course because of the variation in students’ access to fast data. There are many more areas of need, of course – not least of which is health.

It also seems crazy when many services are being tailored to online access – including the federal government’s myGov portal.

And all of these issues would be addressed by having a fibre-to-the-premises NBN.

It’s not just about downloading HD movies!

Surely a good idea is a good idea – regardless of whether it comes from Labor or the Coalition.

And a fibre-to-the-premises NBN is more than a good idea – it is an investment in our future as individuals and as a nation.

Please, can we have some bipartisan support on this issue and not play politics with this precious future?