Transcript - Sky News First Edition - 3 November 2025

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

3 November 2025 

Transcript 

Sky News First Edition with Peter Stefanovic

Topics: Newspoll; Liberal leadership; Coalition; The Nationals; net zero; net zero survey; Optus inquiry; ACMA. 

E&EO … 

Peter Stefanovic

Joining us live is the Shadow Communications Minister, Melissa McIntosh. Melissa, thanks for your time this morning. So, we'll start there …

Melissa McIntosh

Thanks, Pete.

Stefanovic

Before we get to the Senate inquiry later on today.

McIntosh

Start with the good news, hey.

Stefanovic

Yeah, let's just, let's rip in. Let's get right to it. How terminal is this decline, in your view?

McIntosh

I hope there's a cure for what you're saying is terminal, but I'm not going to give you the political answer. It's pretty hard to wake up on a Monday morning with such terrible results in polling and it's days like this you think, well, why am I doing this job? And I think the answer is in our communities.

I surveyed my community recently on the issues that matter to them, and they don't want net zero. 87% are struggling quite significantly under cost of living pressures. We're feeling the pressures of immigration, we're feeling the pressures of being left behind and we should be prosecuting quite strongly against the government.

They've had three strikes, like their pathway to net zero looks like it's failing. Their pathway to build new homes is failing and they promised $275 less on your electricity bill. This is three strikes. They should be out. We should be a strong Opposition now. So you're right, it's hard, but on days like this, you think about why you're doing this and this is around having a voice for your local communities.

Stefanovic

Yeah. So you're right. I mean, you should be a strong Coalition, but you're not. And this is interesting. So, whenever I ask members of the Coalition about Newspoll and the numbers are usually bad, they kind of spin it and try and stay positive. You sound like you're quite worried about it, is that right?

McIntosh

I don't want to spin it. Australians aren't happy with us. We lost an election and we were annihilated at the election. We need to get our act together. We need to focus on being a strong Opposition. That's what I have tried to do, along with Anne Webster, my Nats colleague, in holding Optus and the government to account when people died with Triple Zero outages.

If we can focus on that, I think Australians will start coming back around, but they just don't like what they're seeing right now. And I love going back out in my community because it's a reality check. My community isn't anti-environment, they're pro reality and reality right now is not really great for us.

Stefanovic

So, I mean, are you thinking about another career option? Are you at that stage?

McIntosh

I love my community so much. And the people of Western Sydney need a strong voice and I promised them that I would be their voice as long as they want me in Parliament. And I'm very fortunate they voted me back in. So, no, I'm not going anywhere. But I'll keep prosecuting the case for us to be a strong Opposition because that's what Australians want us to be.

Stefanovic

Okay, sure, but Melissa, can Sussan Ley stay on as Leader with these numbers?

McIntosh

Sussan still has my confidence, and she should be able to stay on as Leader. As I said, we're downing the dumps. It's not just about the leadership. It's the whole Coalition and the people that are left, my colleagues, they're wonderful, talented people and we should be giving Sussan a chance. She's made some strong economic statements.

We are getting back on track when it comes to policy development. I don't think it's as bad internally as what the media likes to make out, but it's time for us to stay focused on the path ahead.

Stefanovic

Right, but when she's starting to talk about the band shirt or the music shirt that the Prime Minister's wearing, I mean, was that a misstep? Is it stuff like that that shows her head's not in the game properly?

McIntosh

I backed Sussan on that last week because I thought it was pretty inappropriate of the Prime Minister to be wearing that shirt. And it's her right to be able to make that statement. I think I said at the time we should be able to multitask and have an opinion about those things at the same time as prosecuting strong arguments.

The government, as I just said to you, on three areas alone, they are failing. They're failing on net zero, they're failing on housing, they're failing on the promises they've made to the Australian people. Let's focus on that.

Stefanovic

So, something else that's interesting in news poll today that I'm sure you're aware of. So you saw a four-point drop. One Nation has seen a four-point rise. So how does that affect your thinking? How are you reading into that?

McIntosh

I'm not reading a whole lot into it, but I can feel it in my own seat in Western Sydney. People want us to make a strong stand on issues like net zero, on ensuring we have a pathway for Australians into the future and putting Australians first. So, if they're not seeing that from us right now, they might be leaning more towards One Nation.

But you know that at the end of the day a two-party system is best. One Nation isn't going to be able to govern our country. It's just maybe a reflection on people wanting to know where we're going with our policies. And as I said a couple of weeks ago, I'll be standing up for my community on ensuring that when it comes to our policies going in future on net zero, that their voice is heard. 87% are struggling under costly, all those sorts of things. These are pragmatic solutions that we can quite easily put forward to the Australian people and get some of those votes that are bleeding to One Nation back.

Stefanovic

Well, let's get to that. Melissa, after The Nationals made their net zero call on the weekend, will you follow them and do the same?

McIntosh

I won't follow them, but I sit next to David in Question Time and we have a good relationship. I've just been working really closely with Anne Webster, another great Nat. I get along with the Nats really well and I can see Michael McCormack - I've had conversations with him about the impacts on regional communities around net zero. So, it's not about following, but it's around understanding their position.

I had a glance through the report that they're referencing and some of that is very common sense sort of stuff, things that people in my community are telling me as well. So it's not about following them. I've already made my position very clear on net zero, on cost of living, on energy prices, on the need for a pragmatic energy policy going into the future. And now it'll be us as the Liberal Party to, to come together on common ground and then put our policy forward to the Australian people.

Stefanovic

So, will the Coalition - can the Coalition stay together? I mean, Dave Sharma thinks there might be a problem there.

McIntosh

I can't see any reason why we can't stay together right now. As I said, I read the report. I have a close relationship with the Nats and what they're doing is once again listening to their communities. That's what we should all be doing as good members of Parliament, going back to your community and being their voice. So I really - I'm a strong Coalitionist. I hope that the future is a lot brighter for us than it is and has been over the last few months.

Stefanovic

Ok, but if, I mean, if you move against net zero by 2050, I mean, the question always comes back, how are you going to get the cities which you've lost?

McIntosh

I think it's around - that's what I'm saying, a pragmatic energy policy. We do need – it’s not about the winning of votes. It's around appealing to the Australian people. I need to represent my community in the cities. Why aren't we looking at policies that might resonate there that gets us to where we need to be, whether it is short term on gas, whether it's long term, on looking at dropping the ban on nuclear.

I think we should be able to get to a solid ground as a Coalition and of course start appealing to the inner-city seats that were once strong Liberal seats as well.

Stefanovic

Melissa, got you on originally just to talk about the Senate inquiry today involving …

 

McIntosh

Yep.

Stefanovic

So what do you want to - what do you want to see? What do you want to hear from those bosses today? It gets underway in a little over an hour's time.

McIntosh

This is what I'm talking about being a strong Opposition because if we weren't vocal on this, I don't think we would have had this Senate inquiry. We had to push really hard. People did die and I don't have the confidence right now that it won't happen again. So questions will be asked of the CEO of Optus today by the Senate and I hope we get some answers.

When I met with the CEO, he said to me it was human error and how to be telco. How can human error result in an outage where lives were lost? ACMA, the regulator is also going to be questioned today and I've said from the very beginning ACMA should not be investigating the Triple Zero outage because they're part of the failed process.

Optus told ACMA about the outage on the Thursday. The Minister for Communications said she didn't find out until the Friday what's going on. Multiple failings. Australians deserve answers and they deserve to have confidence restored in our most essential telecommunications service.

Stefanovic

I feel like it's rare to get honesty from politicians a lot of the time, but I feel like a it from you today, Melissa. Thanks so much and chat to you again soon.

McIntosh

Thanks, Pete.