''We stick up for the shire,'' Berrigan branch secretary May Hill said.

''We don't want all our young people to just disappear and the more industry we can get in Berrigan, the better it is. At the moment it's booming because there's a lot of rice and we've got good agriculture, but we're looking at the long-term.''

Berrigan has been told that because its population is less than 1000, it will not be connected to fibre optic technology under the NBN, but a combination of satellite and wireless broadband.

This will give the town and its neighbours Jerilderie and Coleambally peak internet connection speeds of 12 megabits per second, compared with 93 per cent of Australians, who will access speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.

The CWA argues that the slower internet speeds will stymie business investment and make it more difficult to attract young people to the towns. But the federal government says communities in this position can turn to external sources of funding to pay for fast fibre optic connections, such as local or state governments.

A spokeswoman for communications minister Stephen Conroy said no Australian would miss out on improved internet ''speed, affordability and reliability''.

''The NBN will once and for all smash the tyranny of distance and allow Australians living in rural and regional areas the same access to broadband services as those in the cities, at the same cost,'' she said.

But the CWA begs to differ.

In an impassioned submission to the federal government's third review of the NBN rollout, which will hold hearings next week, the group says the lower internet speeds in small towns will hasten the decline of small communities already struggling with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan policy, outward migration and climate change, and will push border residents in towns in the southern Riverina and NSW and Victoria border irrigation districts into larger rural centres in NSW and Victoria.

A spokeswoman for Berrigan Shire Council said smaller communities needed faster NBN speeds more than larger centres.

The council, which has also lodged a submission with the government's NBN review, said attracting young families to the area would be difficult without investment in technology.

''That a relatively compact Shire in area, three hours from Melbourne and well serviced by a National Highway (Route 39 Newell Highway) and the Riverina Highway (National Route 58) is considered so remote by NBN Co that it requires all three types of broadband technology further confuses the issue for residents and local businesses trying to attract new business and investment.''

Victorian president Carol Clay said the fight for internet speed was core CWA business.

''In small towns they work so hard to keep their little communities together. It really is very difficult and they fight so hard to keep that standard of living in their lives. And, really, nothing's changed - we're just as much needed as we were; the same sorts of problems with isolation and feeling neglected are still so relevant.''