Sky – The Kenny Report - 10 December 2025

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

Wednesday, 10 December 2025

Transcript

Sky – The Kenny Report

Topic: Social media ban; Mental health support for kids under social media ban; Communications Minister Anika Wells’ travel expenses; Parliamentary entitlements.

Chris Kenny

Let’s catch up now with the Shadow Communications Minister, Melissa McIntosh, joining us from Sydney. Good to talk to you, Melissa. A big day for this social media ban coming into place. What's the feedback that you're getting? We know about some workarounds. I'll ask you about those in in a moment. But have teenagers had their accounts suspended? Are people letting you know that it's working in some cases?

Melissa McIntosh

I was stopped on the High Street of Penrith this afternoon by a father and his daughter who's about 14 and she said she was kicked off but her mate wasn't. Her mate's really happy. So, I think we're hearing similar stories across the country and I've been warning about kids just moving across to other platforms and not getting off social media at all. And I am astonished that the Prime Minister today could not say what success was when it comes to what he's been declaring world first legislation. We all put it through Parliament and the Minister herself not being able to say what success is, so what are we just having a great time? I really don't understand that, because that means that they're trying to get off the hook if it does fail. I've been trying to draw attention to those failures.

Chris Kenny

Yeah, but we'll find out in coming days, I suppose. We should get some numbers, I suppose, of how many accounts have been suspended. We'll get feedback from parents and children who are confirming that their accounts have closed. But there are reports, of course, as you referred to, of workarounds. People are either faking their age, or they're using VPNs to pretend their accounts are hosted in other countries. And there are new platforms being promulgated all the time. So, on the technology side this is going to be almost impossible to enforce isn't it?

Melissa McIntosh

I think so, and these are platforms that are emerging that were not popular a couple weeks ago, are popular now. And on the get arounds, I've been told that kids are putting on makeup to try and look older, and it seems to be working. But these are all the risks that I've been warning about for months and months now. And that the age verification technologies rushed the trial, showed so many errors and I don't want to stand here and just be super negative but I think it's worth pointing out the risks to failure, because a lot of parents across the country are relying on this ban working for their children. And when do we have a measurement for success?

Chris Kenny

Well, that's the trouble. There's a false premise there. If parents are thinking that technology is taking care of it, the government's taking care of it, may not be the case. Now, I highlighted as well this very low bar that Anthony Albanese has set himself. It's ludicrous, in fact. Just the fact that people are talking about the ban is a win. Now, that's nonsensical. What would you see as a win for this legislation? Would you need to see some numbers fulfilled or some sort of feedback from the digital giants themselves that people are not dropping around, that their numbers of users in Australia has dropped?

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, the Prime Minister's basically saying it's just about the vibe, and we're having a chat about it, isn't it wonderful? What happened to evidence-based policy making? The concern around we’re having a chat, well, this is the level of detail that was put into the rollout. No detail. We know that this Minister is hopeless when it comes to being across the detail, but it should be things like how many, counting who's off it, but also around mental health. I think that would be a very important measurement, and I've started calling for the government to invest more in youth mental health, particularly if kids are having a tough time getting off. So, suicide rates, presentations to hospitals, things like that, really serious things. Because at the end of the day, this is what got the campaign over the line was protecting young people of course from harm but protecting their mental health so that should be built into it. And one thing that should not happen, which I've been pushing really hard on, is around this digital ID. There's Australian’s very personal information going offshore into a data centre, and we don't know what happens to that information from there.

Chis Kenny

Yeah, we're right to be very, very sceptical and worried about that sort of proposition. Let me get you on your counterpart, on the Minister Anika Wells and the travel allowance scandal she's going through. Here's a little bit more of what she had to say today.

[Clip plays]

Anika Wells

These rules are set at arm's length from parliamentarians. These rules were made under the previous government. I have, during my time, been abided by... I've abided by the rules the whole time I've been a parliamentarian. Parliamentarians must follow the rules. I have followed the rules. IPEA regularly reviews all of these things. My job is to follow the rules. I have followed the rules.

[Clip ends]

Chris Kenny

Melissa, is following the rules good enough, or do you need to have a higher standard for public accountability?

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, can I just say at least the Minister finally fronted the media today. Other Labor colleagues of hers have been hiding from the media, including the Greens now too. But saying I'm following the rules, well, there is a higher expectation. There's a high expectation on members of Parliament. But when you become a shadow cabinet minister, you also have to adhere to the Prime Minister's code of conduct. And in that, it very clearly says what ministers should and should not do including around the excessive use of taxpayer money. So, you know this is not just a one-off for this minister. She left her post during a Triple Zero crisis to go to New York, to jump up and down and do a PR exercise around the ban that hadn't even come into place yet. And that was one of her measurements of success that the world now knows about it. I don't know why that matters if the world's following Australia or not, she should be focused here. She's spent excessively that $1,000 or more on that comcar when she went into the tennis for seven hours. How is that following the rules? I really think she's been rorting the system on this one. And I think it is time that we have an overhaul of these entitlements to make sure that people do follow the rules, and they're sensible, and ministers and cabinet ministers first and foremost are doing the right thing. The Prime Minister needs to show more leadership on this.

Chris Kenny

Yeah, he's got to step in. He can't just sit back and watch all this. Thanks for joining us. Melissa McIntosh, appreciate it.

[ENDS]