FiveAA Mornings with Graeme Goodings - 4 December 2025

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

Thursday, 4 December 2025

Transcript

FiveAA Mornings with Graeme Goodings

Subject: Social media ban; Age verification and Digital ID.

E&OE …

Graeme Goodings

Well, with just one week until Australia's ban on social media takes effect, the Opposition has slammed the government for what they claim is chaotic implementation and misleading the public. Shadow Communications Minister Melissa McIntosh joins us. Shadow Minister, good morning to you.

Melissa McIntosh

Good morning.

Graeme Goodings

What are your concerns?

Melissa McIntosh

I have many concerns about the social media ban. I've been expressing these for some time now and by no means that it's about, you know, not thinking that kids should be safe or protecting children, that is our top priority. But there's been missteps all the way. We still have platforms being drip fed in and we're hearing now kids are migrating across to other social media platforms already and the fact that people may be required to use digital ID. The Minister for Communications really had a go at me in her Press Club speech yesterday and said I was dog whistling talking about digital ID. But I've met with the platforms, they have said we don't want to risk $50 million fines; if we can't verify someone's age and the technology is not perfect, then we will be asking people to upload their driver's licence or their birth certificate. That is digital ID. Where is this data being stored? It's being stored offshore in offshore data centres and we don't know how long this data will be stored for. This is Australians private data.

Graeme Goodings

So are you concerned about the whole idea of a social media ban? Would you, if you were in government, turn the ban down, get rid of it?

Melissa McIntosh

Well it's a really fine balance because the Coalition under Peter Dutton did actually want the ban to start with. The intent of protecting children doesn't change, it's just the rollout of the ban and that it's becoming something different to what it was meant to be, for protecting children. The set and forget sort of approach and the Minister's now saying, well it's not going to be perfect and give us time, and all these sorts of things, means that it's at high risk of failing and, and what happens if it fails? Just putting all eggs in this one basket and with a high risk of failing. I just don't think that's what it's meant to be.

Graeme Goodings

So what would you do if you were in government?

Melissa McIntosh

It would be wonderful to be in government again. Been too long, too long in opposition. I think the rollout would be really important. So if, if we're going and we agree to the ban, we should be taking the time to get the technology right, first and foremost. The age assurance technology, still in the trials that happened, there was high risk of failure with even up to 30% or more of occurrences of failure when it came to age verification. So, the technology is not quite there and we wouldn't be asking people for digital ID - that's just not on. So the rollout, the drip feeding of platforms, being across the platforms. So, it is a very complex issue. I wish we had the powers of government and the number of departmental officials that the government currently has to get this right. We don't. But the intent to protect kids is still something we support.

Graeme Goodings

And this is the issue, isn't it? I mean, kids need protection. Are you also concerned that parents might see something like this social media ban as a way out for them that, well, you know, this is in force now. Kids can't get on to websites that are danger to them, so we don't need to sort of observe what they're doing?

Melissa McIntosh

Well, a government should never be responsible for parenting kids. I think most parents probably, and I hope would, put their parental responsibilities first. But this is the other concern is around the understanding or even the education that the government's put out around the ban and what it means. So, you can't just say, okay, my child's off social media, all is good. Because as I said, there's, there are kids that are migrating across other social media platforms. The ban isn't capturing every single social media platform right now. Just the top ones. Everyone knows about Meta and YouTube and Instagram, those sorts of things. But there's others that are coming through. And then, there's also the question around AI, which is even probably more concerning, to hear when kids have friends that are AI bots and they're not real friends; and there's some really abhorrent content on some of these AI platforms as well. So, it's a bigger issue, and that's what I'm trying to get out that regarding the ban, you can't just have a ban and think everything is going to be okay now.

Graeme Goodings

I mean, there's also the issue that kids are smart, they're clever, they work their way around it. And okay, if some of the sites that they used to use, Instagram and TikTok, other sites will spring up that aren't covered by the ban and they'll frequent those.

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, it's very much whack a mole. And it will be up to the government to keep on top of that, because we've seen already the huge, you know, uptake of these other social media platforms that hardly anyone was visiting until, you know, until a couple of days ago. And the kids are already just across there using those. So, they'll keep moving around. They'll obviously get around it, you know, through their parents as well. I really do hope it works in protecting children. It's just the, you know, it's my job as the opposition to point out the flaws, and there's many flaws, and to put pressure on the government to get it right for Australian children.

Graeme Goodings

Yeah. I don't think there's any doubt that we all want what's best for our young people, and if the ban is implemented effectively and it protects young kids, all so much the better. Shadow Communications Minister Melissa McIntosh joining us this morning on 5AA.

[Ends]