Senator Roberts’ powerful speech in parliament on 24 November 2025 pointed out that three years ago One Nation had told the country:

‘Australia is firmly on the path towards a dystopian future with households having their access to electricity taken out of their hands and monitored, controlled and restricted by governments.

That’s control of your electricity use in the government’s hands and in energy company hands, including foreign multinational companies. That is control of your electricity and your access to it—whether you can use it and what you can use it for. This is only possible with the now mandatory rollout of smart meters, which are internet connected electricity meters.’

Senator Roberts went on to say that for many years, the rollout of smart meters was promised as purely voluntary. Despite this, the experience of people who voluntarily got a smart meter was absolutely terrible. There were changes to customer’s tariffs with no consent. Some customers were switched to time-of-use tariffs, in which ‘customers paid more for power at peak times, and demand charges, which involved charging someone based on their single biggest half-hour of use across an entire month.’

‘What was the Albanese Labor government’s response to all of these problems? Did they try to fix them? No. They doubled down. The Labor government in June made the smart meter rollout mandatory. This federal Labor government made the smart meter rollout mandatory. They said anyone going onto a smart meter couldn’t be put onto a punitive tariff. They did say that. This, though, is only temporary relief that will last just two years. After that, it’s open season for power company profiteering. The smart meters are a key part of the government’s emergency plans.’

Senator Roberts then explained why smart meters are a key link in the government’s emergency plans for addressing increasing grid instability due to more electricity from solar and wind. He pointed out that in order to receive the government’s subsidy for a household battery, your battery must be ‘capable of participating in a virtual power plant’. A virtual power plant is ‘simply about being able to drain your battery, which you paid for, to the grid whenever your power company wants. Combined with an always connected smart meter, there’s nothing stopping the grid operator from draining a household battery whenever they want in the future—whenever they want—disregarding your need for electricity.’

‘That’s why One Nation is moving this motion to have an inquiry into the rollout of smart meters and what consumer protections are needed. Right now, there are no consumer protections—none at all—and the public has been misled. Deceitfully, the truth is hidden. Why would they hide it? Because they’re out to get you, to screw you. What protections are actually in place to make sure power companies aren’t going to gouge Australians through a smart meter? Right now, it looks like nothing. The smart meter rollout was changed from voluntary to mandatory without any notice despite the many problems that had been raised and pointed out. Australians pointed out the many problems to the government: Why? Who benefits? It’s certainly not everyday Australians, who this Labor government dishonestly pretends to serve. Instead, it’s stealing. One Nation wants this inquiry to answer these questions and many more.’

Specifically, Senator Roberts moved that the state of consumer protections in relation to electricity smart meters be referred to the Economics References Committee for inquiry and report by 1 April 2026, with specific reference to:

• Consumer rights to opt out from smart meter installation;
• Surge, cost-reflective power, or flexible tariffs and their impacts on household power bills;
• Australian Electricity Market Commission rule change allowing electricity companies to change customers onto a punitive power tariff without their consent after two years; and
• Any related matters.

The vote on Senator Roberts’ motion was held the following day, on 25 November 2025. It was not successful. Hansard recorded that 25 senators supported the motion and 34 did not support it.

SSMA commends those parliamentarians who displayed the moral fibre to back investigation of consumer protections in relation to the current rollout of smart meters in jurisdictions within the national electricity market.

SSMA asks why did the other 34 senators oppose the motion?

Senator Roberts’ address to parliament can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS4uZcPrdAU

The complete transcript is available at: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/28882/&sid=0315