Should a resident decide they want NBN wireless internet they will need to have an antenna installed on their roof to pick up the signal from the base station. It is not as simple as thinking “I will have it at the back so it can’t be seen from the street”. The roof top antenna will need to be facing the base station. If you have a tree in your garden which blocks your wireless signal, then you will need to have your antenna either moved or have the tree lopped as is done in our streets to keep branches from electricity wires.

The NBN is a great idea. It will make improvements to how the internet is used by schools, hospitals,businesses and individuals.

So why am I writing this letter? 

It is simple: Barraba can have optical fibre the same as Manilla and Bingara will be having. NBN has said towns without 1,000 houses will not get optical fibre internet.

With the advent of the pipeline from Split Rock Dam to Barraba solving our water woes, I do believe we will see our friendly, caring town prosper and go ahead as employment opportunities come to town. 

I hate to think that a person coming to Barraba is going to see huge ugly wireless antennas either side of our town. And lets face it, the verdict that there will be no harm caused by the radiation from these wireless base stations is not conclusive, as there are different opinions. 

We won’t want prospective new residents deciding that they will be better off buying a house in Manilla or Bingara because Barraba has huge wireless base stations and that they are concerned for their children’s health, not to mention their own health.

I don’t want to be forced to have wireless internet as I am not so sure we won’t be forced onto NBN in the future as the copper wire internet will be fazed out.

Part of the agreement with Telstra in Hobart was to decommission the existing copper network where the NBN is available, and further to restrict wireless services so that they do not compete with the NBN. Thus it is expected that the NBN will have a high take-up rate, as it will be the only option for fixed telephones and broadband internet access.

If you don’t mind Barraba having wireless base stations placed strategically around our town and our homes with wireless antennas on our roofs, including the lovely old buildings in the main street, do nothing. Who knows how high they will need to be?

Do nothing and say nothing and we will go from the town without water to the town with wireless base stations emitting radiation into our environment.

Remember, it is written that long term public health hazards can not be ruled out.

I have received a letter from Joel Ginges which advises he and a Ms Crompton will be flying into Barraba to meet with me and a member of the Barraba P&C despite not

 having received any feedback from the school following its notification.

I do not want to go to this meeting as a representative of the Barraba community. When we as a town, or parents of children attending the school, have not been given enough information about this proposal and we were supposed to submit any comment by October 19. 

Why (was) the meeting with myself and one representative from the school organised on November 19?

Please contact Mr Joel Ginges, Town Planner, Daly International, Chatswood West NSW or via email at jgins@dalyinternational.com.au or by phone on 02 9419 2199 

For other information, call the NBN Co solutions centre on 1800 881 816, or email info@nbnco.com.au or visit the NBN Co web site at www.nbnco.com.au

If you do not have children but have grandchildren and you are not so sure of the long term effects of radiation, then lodge a protest.

JULIE FENWICK

BARRABA