Transcript - ABC Radio Sydney Mornings - 3 November 2025

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

3 November 2025 

Transcript 

ABC Radio Sydney Mornings with Hamish Macdonald

Topics: Net zero; net zero survey; energy prices; Liberal leadership; insurance premiums; floods; Western Sydney; Optus inquiry; ACMA.

E&EO … 

Hamish Macdonald

Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh is here, also the Shadow Minister for Communications and member for Lindsay here in Western Sydney. Good morning to you.

Melissa McIntosh

Good morning, Hamish.

Macdonald

Lots to talk to you about this morning, including the Triple Zero inquiry that's getting underway as we speak. But just on net zero, do you support the Coalition, the Liberals, having a policy of committing to net zero by 2050 or not?

McIntosh

Where I'm focused is backing my community. And I put out a survey and around 1500 people responded and it was about our energy future, including whether people are struggling more right now, paying more for the energy, whether they do support net zero or not, and 65% of people don't support Net zero in my community.

And it's not an ideological thing, it's because people are really suffering under high power prices. 87% said they're paying more and it's actually impacting their way of living.

Macdonald

Can I just clarify though, what - wasn't the question you put to them whether they supported it at any cost, not whether they support it?

McIntosh

I did - whether they supported it was 65% and at any cost it increased. They did not support it to 87%. So ...

Macdonald

But didn't we just have a Federal election where all of these questions were put to the Australian public and the answer was pretty decisive?

McIntosh

I think there were many aspects that, you know, led to the result of the election. I don't think you can say it was just on net zero. It wasn't an election on net zero. And for us …

Macdonald

And, well, no election ever is. But, I mean, this government does have a mandate, doesn't it, to put its policies in place, which it's.

McIntosh

That's up to the government and they're failing on their targets to do with net zero right now, on their 2030 targets, they're failing on their housing targets that they promised Australians and they're failing on their promise to reduce power bills. People are struggling like they've never struggled before. So, I think for us as an Opposition, we've got some really strong arguments to prosecute. And that's where I'm focused on representing my community in Western Sydney.

Macdonald

Ok, so you've given us the context. The question is, do you support net zero by 2050 or not?

McIntosh

Well, I'm backing my community on their position, which is that they don't support net zero, but we do need to find a pragmatic energy solution and that's what I'll be working through in the party room and with my colleagues.

Macdonald

So, can we just clarify, you're saying on the basis of where your community, your 1,500 respondents sit, you wouldn't support a commitment to net zero by 2050?

McIntosh

Correct. And it's not just about that one survey. I'm - And as you know, I've spoken to you lots. I'm out in my community a lot. I see myself and I know I am very much a community member of Parliament and I'm their voice in the Australian Parliament. So I need to stand up for them. If their views are that this is not working for them, government's renewables only approach is not working for them, then I need to be strong, I need to be their voice in Parliament and they are actually wanting to do the right thing. They're putting batteries, sorry, they're putting solar panels on the roofs and they can't afford the batteries.

Macdonald

So where does this leave your party? Because you're a senior figure, you're the Shadow Minister for Communications. We know that Sussan Ley, the Leader, does individually support net zero by 2050. Dave Sharma's out this morning saying maybe we should split with the Nats if we can't agree on this policy. Do you even agree with your own Leader? Do you support her views on this?

McIntosh

I think we're a pretty grown up party. I think we should be able to come to a solution, you know, that's representative. So, you know, you're talking about the Nats. I sit next to David Littleproud in Question Time. I worked really closely with Anne Webster on the Triple Zero outage and I can understand their point of view. I've spoken to Michael McCormack many times about how people are suffering out in regional communities when it comes to the rollout of renewables.

So I understand their view and now I've got my own personal view. And how about the other members of Parliament across Australia who are – who we have in the Liberal Party, represent their communities as well and hopefully we'll be able to settle on something that is reasonable to ensure that we're the best voice for our people.

Macdonald

Do you support Sussan Ley as leader of your party?

McIntosh

One hundred per cent, I support Sussan. She's got my backing. You know, I understand it's a very difficult position for her right now as the Opposition Leader after such a devastating defeat at the election. And there's no shying away from the position we are in right now. But I think we are going to be - only going to be a viable alternative when we start being a strong Opposition and focusing on holding the government to account. As I said, there's been, you know, it should be three strikes and the government should be out right now because of the failings of them in regards to promises to the Australian people.

Macdonald

A lot of people responding to your position on net zero this morning, a couple of texts along these lines. Someone here saying, but my insurance bills are going up more by a lot more than my power bills. Do you acknowledge that by delaying or deferring climate policies, you're actually leading to higher insurance premiums?

McIntosh

But that's not what it's about. It's not about being anti-environment, it's about being pro-reality.

Macdonald

Sure, but my question is, do you acknowledge that by delaying climate policy implementation it may lead to higher insurance premiums?

McIntosh

But how is it delaying, Hamish? I don't understand what you mean by delaying. It's not. That's all. It's - all I'm purely saying to you is that people don't support a target that is hurting their lives. It's actually having a devastating effect on people not being.

Macdonald

What business has …

McIntosh

Come out to Penrith. Come out to Penrith and come with me. Walk down the High Street and see how many people, everyday Australians that are now living on the street because they can't pay bills. It's flowing through the whole community, and we aren't doing enough about this. I'd be very happy to take you around and go. Come with me - to the people that are now living on the banks of the Nepean River because they can't have a roof over their heads, they can't feed their families. This is real life stuff.

Macdonald

I'm just wondering how honest you're being with them about the relationship between energy policy and insurance premiums.

McIntosh

Well, these prices are going up across the board and in my community, we do live on the river. Insurance premiums are too high. We also affected by fires. So, people are paying too much. I'm not denying that. But what I'm saying to you is that the current trajectory that the government has when it comes to renewables only is having a major impact on costs and that's flowing through the whole community and it's flowing through the amount people are paying on not only their energy bills, but their groceries. Everything to do with cost of living.

Macdonald

Melissa McIntosh is here, the Shadow Communications Minister as we speak for Optus execs, including the CEO Stephen Rue - fronting a Senate public hearing, Rue's once again defended his decision to talk to his parent company, Singtel's board before talking to anybody here in the Federal government when the mass outage occurred. This time round. Here he is a short time ago:

Stephen Rue

The network Issue had been resolved so that the Triple Zero calls were operating and there was no, there was no danger to the public in the sense that they weren't able to make Triple Zero calls. It was the outage had been informed the day before, accepting the fact that we thought it was fewer missed calls, which I'm sure you'll ask me about. But the judgement I had was that it was best to get the information accurately together and then inform the regulator, the Department and the Minister's office.

That's the CEO boss, Stephen Rue there. Melissa, we've spoken to you a few times about these issues. Is there a particular question that you have that you're hoping he will answer today?

McIntosh

How did this happen? And please assure the Australian public it will never happen again. There's so many questions and I fear that the Optus CEO hasn't been upfront with the Australian people on what occurred. And I hope the Senate inquiry uncovers that, because when I spoke with him and I met with him and I asked that question, it came down to human error. And how can human error, one individual result in such a devastating outage? We've got to remember this is about people's lives and it's not just about Optus. Government accountability is key here as well. ACMA, the regulator, was involved in the failed process. They're fronting the inquiry today and we would all want to know when they found out, did they find out on the Thursday, why didn't they inform the Minister? Because she's saying that she didn't find out until the Friday and yet the Minister appointed ACMA to investigate. And how can you investigate yourself? What's going to be the outcome of an investigation when you're investigating yourself? So, I hope we get some answers and from there I hope we have a full overhaul of the system so Australians can once again have reliability and confidence in Triple Zero, which is what we want. That's the outcome we want.

Macdonald

Melissa McIntosh, thank you for your time this morning.