Sky News The Kenny Report with Chris Kenny - 17 June 2026

Melissa McIntosh MP
Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services
Shadow Minister for the NDIS
Shadow Minister for Women
Federal Member for Lindsay

17 June 2026

Transcript

Sky News The Kenny Report

Topics: Pauline Hanson Press Club speech, One Nation

E&EO

Chris Kenny 

Melissa, thanks for joining us. Did you sit and watch the Press Club event today?

Melissa McIntosh 

Thanks for having me on, Chris. It's absolutely fine that Pauline was down talking to journalists. I was actually out in my community today, so I didn't see her Press Club speech, but I was at a food bank, and I can tell you what, things are really tough out there. This particular food bank told me they're feeding 25,000 people across my patch every single week. 25,000 people needing a food bank. It's extraordinary, and these people, I saw them today, there was a woman who was 31 weeks pregnant, and it breaks my heart to see that this woman coming in, and she's got two other little children needing food to survive.

Chris Kenny 

Well, this is one of the issues -

Melissa McIntosh 

The people at this food bank said to me -

Chris Kenny 

Sorry to talk over you. There's a bit of a delay there. I was going to say this is one of the issues that Pauline Hanson focused on in her speech. She mentioned that something like a third of Australian parents have admitted sending their kids to school hungry, that families are actually struggling to feed themselves. These are real issues, and she's obviously striking a chord with voters on those issues in the way that the Coalition hasn't been doing.

Melissa McIntosh 

Well, and that's how I get to hear from people in my community, and I'm grateful I was there today. There were a whole lot of volunteers packing lunches, making sandwiches for kids. The amount of kids that are going to school right now, not getting breakfast and not getting lunch. The volunteers told me some kids have had a whole day without eating, and then they go to school, and they can't concentrate, and then we see all these behavioural issues in our schools, purely because kids aren't getting fed. It is just not on. What is going on in this country when our kids are going to school unfed, when 31-week pregnant women are lining up at food banks, and dual income families are having to go to food banks?

Chris Kenny 

So what's the problem here? Is it energy prices?

Melissa McIntosh 

The Government is not listening to -

Chris Kenny 

Is it inflation and interest rates or energy prices?

Melissa McIntosh 

Yep, it's everything coming head on at people every time they feel like they're going to get ahead, make another step, they get smashed down by high energy prices, deciding whether they even can have a roof over their head. Now, one of the gentlemen said to me, it's not the working poor, now it's working homeless. People are living homeless, lining up with these food banks, yet going to work the next day, yet they don't have a roof over their heads. So, this is what I saw in my community today, and that's why people are screaming out to be listened to, and every single policy this Government is pushing on to the Australian people is not making things better for them, it's making it absolutely worse.

Chris Kenny 

Now, the key point here is that these concerns that you talk about are exactly what Pauline Hanson's been focusing on today, also the sense that voters are not being listened to. She's very strong on that, and I think it's part of a key part to her success, a key factor in that. Yet, here's what your leader, Angus Taylor, had to say today.

Angus Taylor (recording) 

What we need is a credible plan. Scrutiny matters, and frankly, One Nation is yet to give this country a credible plan.

Chris Kenny 

Isn't this a problem here, where you've got the Liberals attacking One Nation, where you're actually arguing many of the same points, and you need to coordinate your attacks on behalf of the Australian voters and against the Government, rather than be squabbling amongst yourselves?

Melissa McIntosh 

Yeah, well, One Nation's policies are their policies, and I'm sure as time goes on, we'll get into more of the detail, but I have to tell you, being out in my community, we do need policies that lift people up again. I also spoke to small businesses today, and they're not rich people, they're people that have worked so hard all their lives, and they've built their businesses, they want to sell it on, and now they're going to get hit with these higher small business taxes. I spoke to an older woman at the local Penrith Plaza, and she's really upset, she's paid for her health insurance and over 65s now, the cut to the to the rebates, and she said, "Well, I need like a knee operation, this was going to help with that." Like these are real life issues for real life Australians, and the Labor Government is pushing them down, and they cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Chris Kenny 

Melissa, I can see you backing the Blues in tonight. Good on you. I'll be backing them too. I think everyone wants a Blues win in Melbourne, so that we go to a decider in Queensland here. Thanks for joining us. I appreciate it.