2SM with Brent Bultitude - 9 December 2025

Melissa McIntosh MP
Shadow Minister for Communications
Shadow Minister for Women
Federal Member for Lindsay

9 December 2025

Transcript

2SM with Brent Bultitude

Topics: Triple Zero Inquiry; Social Media ban; Anika Wells travel expenses.

E&EO …

Brent Bultitude: Joining me to talk through all this this morning is the Shadow Communications Minister, Melissa McIntosh. Melissa, welcome to the castle of common sense. It's Brent Bultitude filling in for Chris Smith, thank you for joining us this morning.

Melissa McIntosh; Yeah, it's great to be on, and it seems like all the things that are going on in politics are sitting in my portfolio.

Brent Bultitude: It does, doesn't it? And do you know the other thing? Everyone's on holiday, so, I mean, Parliament has broken up for the year and this seems to be just such a busy, busy time for all the wrong reasons.

Melissa McIntosh: Indeed, and you've mentioned two of the things, one of them being around the Triple Zero crisis and, I've been wondering where the Minister has been during this and what she's been doing. Now, we all know she's been at multiple sporting events and living the life.

Brent Bultitude: Can I ask you, should carriers advise about the outage. Look, the outage exposed gaps between telcos, regulators and emergency services. Do you think carriers should be legally required to prove their Triple Zero systems are resilient, with real penalties and mandatory warnings when upgrades put the public at risk?

Melissa McIntosh: Yeah, I called for additional penalties for telco providers and because the amount that they were being charged now really isn't scratching the surface, it's not making a difference. But more than that, I think we need a full investigation into the whole Triple Zero ecosystem. To hear today that there's been another death, sadly, by a person from Wentworth Falls who just couldn't call Triple Zero; we're hearing it happened in September. TPG only found out about it yesterday through Telstra. How does that even happen? It's extraordinary, and the Minister has the powers to be able to sort this out, to do something to ensure that there's no more deaths yet she hasn't done a thing. There are people walking around right now with old Samsung handsets, there is a couple of thousand I believe, that feel like they're their handsets are working, they're on the 4G network, but if they try to call Triple Zero, the handset will try to go back to the old 3G network and this is because of the government's failed 3G shutdown and they just won't be able to make the call. Why isn't the Minister making public service announcements about this? It's a big mess, a big mess.

Brent Bultitude: Melissa, a full investigation, you've called for a full investigation. We've talked about this with callers on the show before and the concern is that a full investigation, if it was to go ahead, at the end of the day, the results of the full investigation end up in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet anyway and nothing is done and we're no better off.

Melissa McIntosh: You're right and I think that's why it needs to be independent, not government.

Brent Bultitude: Yeah.

Melissa McIntosh: So, I think that's why it needs to be independent, outside of the Minister's department, so outside of the regulator and we need to look at the whole thing. Looking at the telcos, the big contracts these telcos get from government at the same time as getting big fines, the infrastructure. I don't know how it works that people can steal copper wiring and bring down a whole network, thousands of people not being able to make phone calls, but that needs to be sorted.

Brent Bultitude: It does. We've mentioned in our discussion already this morning a couple of times, Anika Wells. Look, if the family reunion rules are too broad and easily misused, would you support tightening them, so family travel claims apply only to genuine care or support needs, not trips linked to major events or leisure. Each morning we've woken up since this story broke, there's another story involving Anika Wells and where she went and who she took with her.

Melissa McIntosh: Having a holiday, it shouldn't be about having a holiday. It's meant to be about connecting with your family while you're working. So, I've used it three times in my whole career, seven years in politics and it was during work. One time I was with the Prime Minister, another time I was with the opposition leader and another time I was in Queensland with colleagues and working during the campaign. So, you have to use it sparingly, you're not meant to be going on holidays with your family or going to a big sporting event with your partner to have a date night. That is not the intention and when it's misused like that, then we all look like idiots really, and people are fed up with politicians looking like they're taking junkets. If people are breaking the rules, then the rules need to be more clear and tightened.

Brent Bultitude: The Tourism Minister, it's come to light today that the Tourism Minister, Don Farrell, he's the king of family reunion flights. Goodness, he's clocked up more than 200, I'll say it again, 200 taxpayer funded trips, including two AFL deciders, three Australian opens and even a sunset dinner at Uluru. Should it not be a rule that if you are going to a sporting event because it is work and you are claiming the expense, the family member just can't come with you because you're there on work?

Melissa McIntosh: Well, you are. I don't know how hard sitting at a sporting event is, I don't. I think your listeners will probably say that's not really work. It sounds like a good time and you're right, this shouldn't be happening. 200? So, you know, lay my three up against theirs any day of the week for scrutiny and I think it is around judgment and the Prime Minister is overseeing this, you've got to remember, this is his senior team that are behaving this way. So, what's he doing about it? I think he's leading by example. He tends to go overseas quite often. He has the nickname Airbus Albo and it seems like his senior ministers are having a great time.

Brent Bultitude: But the winner, ladies and gentlemen, the gold medal winner actually is from the LNP. His name is Andrew Wilcox. He's actually topped the list with apparently $123,000 in family travel entitlements. That's the news that's come out today.

Melissa McIntosh: Yeah, I think it's time and I don't know Andrew's personal reasons for that, but I think it is time that something is done about family reunion and it's used for work purposes, not for, I guess, holiday purposes or what we're seeing with Anika right now. She's just really rorting the system.

Brent Bultitude: Should she lose her job.

Melissa McIntosh: I would like the Prime Minister to step up and make a decision on that. I find it hard that she'd be able to sustain her position after this. It's day after day and it's also the, the comm car. A thousand bucks while you go and hang out the tennis for seven hours.

Brent Bultitude: Oh, that's okay though, isn't it? That's all right, isn't it?

Melissa McIntosh: I think that's going, you know, that pretty much seals the deal.

Brent Bultitude: I'm just doing a three hour air shift and I've got my comm car out in the car park with the air conditioning running. That's okay. I mean, it's just ludicrous. It really is. You go and watch a women's tennis final, which is a privilege anyway, because you didn't pay for the ticket, and then you leave the poor bugger in the com car sitting out in the car park for seven hours. I hope he was able to keep the air conditioning going.

Melissa McIntosh: Yeah, I'm surprised he didn't drive off, to be honest. The behaviour is extraordinary and you've got to remember this is all while she was meant to be doing her job. So, the triple zero stuff.

Brent Bultitude: I’ll come back to that. Yes, exactly.

Melissa McIntosh: She should have been sorting that out.

Brent Bultitude: 100%.

Melissa McIntosh: It's a very important issue. She spent too much time on her sporting side of her job, not enough time doing the actual work that she should be doing in communications and protecting Australians.

Brent Bultitude: But the problem we have, Melissa, is yesterday on national television, there was the Prime Minister supporting her. He's in her corner. This morning it's reported in the news that Jim Chalmers is supporting her. He's in her corner. So they're part of the problem as well.

Melissa McIntosh: Well, they probably don't want poking around at their own entitlements, I'd say, and it's the Labor way, I think with that and I'll be surprised if the Prime Minister comes out and does very much. He's hoping for it to go away, but I think he really needs to show leadership on this issue.

Brent Bultitude: Let's talk about the social media ban if we can. Platforms face huge fines tomorrow if they cannot stop under 16's opening accounts and some are already deleting users. Do you back this law as it stands, Melissa, or has the government dumped an unworkable job on platforms, parents and schools?

Melissa McIntosh: We supported the law and it was Peter Dutton who took leadership on that. So, the intent of protecting kids online, I think the rollout of this by the government has been abysmal. It's been rushed, this December 10 deadline, drip feeding which platforms are in and out. People are still a bit confused, kids we're hearing are migrating across to social media platforms that you and I probably have never heard of. It means that they're not going to be off social media and the big one for me, and I don't think it's really gotten all that much attention just yet, is around digital ID and the Minister swearing that no one will have to produce digital ID, but the reality is if a tech platform can't verify your age using the technology, which is only new technology, then they will ask for driver's licenses or birth certificates and this data is stored offshore. We don't know how long it will be kept in an offshore data centre. We don't know what's going to happen to your personal information. The government's not providing any answers on this and I think that is another big sovereignty issue.

Brent Bultitude: Melissa, we're talking to the Member for Lindsay, Shadow Minister for Communications Melissa McIntosh. Melissa, early surveys show most parents will not fully enforce the ban and kids are already finding simple workarounds. What practical measures would you, your party, and so the policy actually works rather than pretending that tech can do the parenting.

Melissa McIntosh: Yeah, I think it's a rush that we wouldn't have rushed it this much. I also think there needs to be other work done on algorithms and it can't just be about a set and forget ban. I'm concerned as well that the government's made no investment into mental health organisations for young people who are trying to come off social media. There hasn't been any education except for one ad I believe to help parents and schools get prepared and this is all happening just before school holidays. So, it's going to be a challenge. I wish it was us in government, we certainly would have done it differently but right now all I can do is hold the government to account and hopefully ensure that they make this a success for young Australians.

Brent Bultitude: The age verification technology shows high error rates. It really does seem to be a problem. I know we were talking to a tech guy we speak to on a regular basis and his partner in crime, in his business, his daughter is in the age group and she actually was able to go on and set up, she's under 16, but she was able to go on and verify herself through face identification that she was over 16 and she's not. So, this is just the start of some of the problems we're going to see, I believe, in the next couple of weeks. Also, Facebook users that are over the age of 16 that are going to be shut down because, you know, the algorithm has deemed them to be under 16 years of age and all of a sudden we've got people with their accounts being shut down who actually are over the age of 16 and good luck getting your Facebook account back up if that happens.

Melissa McIntosh: Yeah, and you know what you'll need to do? Produce identifications that then gets stored.

Brent Bultitude: Yes. So, this is something that really looks like it's going to have to happen, or do you think it was may be part of the plan originally by the Labor Government.

Melissa McIntosh: Oh, it's definitely the Labor way, the way that they've gone about it and the compelling of digital ID and denying that that's happening. I've had huge concerns around the power of the eSafety Commissioner. I would like an inquiry into the extensive use of her powers as an unelected official. She commands authority over the internet and I think most Australians wouldn't like if they knew what power she has, they really wouldn't like it. She was appointed the position around 10 years ago, and the world's a very different place, so I'd like that to happen as well.

Brent Bultitude: All right. Thank you for your time as always. I know Chris loves talking to you, so we do, too, on the Super Radio Network. I think Chris has been off and I've spoken to you a couple of times now, so I feel like we know each other Melissa.

Melissa McIntosh: I know. Thank you, and there's always lots to talk about.

Brent Bultitude: A big 2026 just around the corner, huh?

Melissa McIntosh: Yes, hopefully. Positive big, big in a positive way. Let's stay optimistic.

Brent Bultitude: All the best. All the best for your celebrations you have over Christmas to you and your family and have a great 2026 and no doubt we'll catch up and talk more in the new year.

Melissa McIntosh: Thank you. Same to you and all your listeners.

Brent Bultitude: Okay, thanks, Melissa. Melissa McIntosh, she's the Shadow Minister for Communications.

[ENDS]