Tyron Whitten (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently, I was in the market for a new air conditioner when I came across an acronym I had never seen before—DRED, Demand Response Enabling Device. Spoiler: it's as bad as it sounds. I jumped online to see exactly what DRED was all about. The Daikin website gave a great overview:

A Demand Enabled Response (DRED) air conditioner allows your electricity provider to control the system at various pre-programmed levels, to manage your demand on the power grid during peak periods.

What could go wrong with that? The next article I found was from the ABC. They reported that Queensland's state owned Energex remotely throttled down nearly 170,000 air conditioners six times in just two months, slashing their power to 50 per cent during sweltering heat to protect the grid. How does a power company send a signal to your house to turn down the air con specifically? Smart meters.

In my home state of Western Australia, they are coming to a meter box near you. You may be able to have the remote communications removed if you meet certain criteria. If you do, you'll have to read the meter yourself—a massive step backwards and a major inconvenience. But you don't even get that option if you have solar panels, an electric car or a home battery system.

Thanks to Labor's brutal attack on our power grids, governments are scrambling to find ways to stop them collapsing. Your batteries, your panels, your electric cars and your air conditioners will no longer be yours to control. They have been hijacked for the greater good, whether you voted for it or not. This is coming to your house. This is the future of energy under Labor. Total government control is coming. DRED is coming.