Transcript - Sky News The Kenny Report - 28 October 2025

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

28 October 2025

Transcript

Sky News – The Kenny Report

Topics: Energy prices; Western Sydney; manufacturing; Tomago; Triple Zero Custodian Bill; Optus; social media age minimum; eSafety Commissioner; digital ID.

E&OE …

Chris Kenny

But I want to go back to Canberra now and catch up with Melissa McIntosh. She's the Shadow Communications Minister and has been in Parliament today. Thanks for joining us, Melissa.

I firstly wanted to get your thoughts on this energy issue and Chris Bowen being forced to reveal some of the incoming government brief that so much of it is redacted, so much kept secret, but it can't hide the fact that we are looking at more price increases. Electricity prices are going to continue to go up.

Melissa McIntosh

Thanks, Chris.

Well, what was revealed today is what everyone knows across Australia and certainly in my electorate of Lindsay in Western Sydney where people are telling me that their energy prices have gone up $1000 to $1300 more than what Labor promised. Remember that $275 less promise that they would be paying? And people don't want Labor's renewables only policy. They are struggling so much. And Chris put on a song and dance today as he does, trying to cover up what people know across this country, that energy bills are skyrocketing and they are going to continue to go up. How much more pressure can people take?

Kenny

Yeah, the thing is we know how it hurts households and I'm not going to downplay that at all. It's very, very tough for households and especially people on fixed incomes. But it's also undermining other parts of, of the economy and it couldn't happen on a worse day today, of course, for Chris Bowen and the government because of these revelations that the nation's largest aluminium smelter, Tomago in the Hunter Valley, is facing possible closure because of energy bills.

McIntosh

Yeah, I spoke to manufacturers probably 12 months ago, including one of our country's biggest foundries producing steel used in our defence force and they were at risk of closing. So, what happens to our sovereign defence, our sovereign manufacturing, the strength of our nation when aluminium smelters, foundries are at risk of closing?

And right across Western Sydney, heavy industry manufacturing is at risk as well. You go to a manufacturer and they say I could put all the solar panels in the world on my roof, but that's not going to power our furnace that we need to produce Australian Made.

So, I think this is another story that is real life. People are going to be potentially losing jobs. Whole communities are made around this type of manufacturing and it is the future. The government talks about the future of Australia, and you know, ra-ras about Australia Made, but where's the truth in that when Australian Made is being decimated.

Kenny

Exactly. We cannot have Australian manufacturing without cheap, affordable, reliable energy. And just to underscore that point to how important Tomago is to the industrial economy in the Hunter Valley, the Prime Minister and other ministers were there earlier this year in January, talking it up. Have a look.

Anthony Albanese

This is what a future made in Australia looks like. Us taking the products that come out of the ground in Weipa at the Bauxite mine, making sure that work occurs at Gladstone and then the final product comes out here at Tomago.

Yeah, there we go. Albanese there talking up Tomago, the very plant that is now under threat that could be facing closure because of the high electricity prices that his government has delivered.

I want to get onto your portfolio areas now, Melissa, in Communications. And first up, a Triple Zero bill that was before Parliament today, that hasn't gone anywhere. This is in the wake of the Optus problems and trying to secure Triple Zero services, Triple-O services for everyone around the country. What was this bill going to do and what's the problem been here?

McIntosh

This issue has been a disaster from the very beginning when Optus experienced those Triple Zero outages and sadly people did die. The Minister held a couple of press conferences. The Communications Minister then chuffed off overseas and left the crisis to. And we've been pushing really hard, I have, on behalf of the Coalition to ensure that there is transparency, that Australians know when outages occur so they can choose one telco over another.

We know exactly what's happening across the country around Triple Zero outages and to fine these companies. I wanted to increase the fines from $10 million, and we even offered to do a deal with the Greens in the Senate up to $40 million and they said no. They had some sort of dirty deal going on with the Labor Party and now that it's going to be down to $30 million and they said to no to more transparency.

We wanted a public register of these outages and now the Minister is putting the onus back on the telcos, but as if the telcos are going to really, you know, stand up and put their hand up when they're doing something wrong. So, there hasn't been a prioritisation of people's safety, people's lives. There is nothing more important than protecting your citizens.

The government’s sort of letting Australians down in a huge way. And we're hearing just today there has been another problem where a woman in her seventies in Gippsland tried to call Triple Zero. She's a former nurse and couldn't get through - and now apparently Optus has no coverage in that area until Sunday. This is a major, major problem.

Kenny

It is a hell of a problem. It is a hell of a problem, and they've got to put the onus on them. We can't just rely on these companies. We've been down that path and it hasn't worked. We've got to have government pressure. There's got to be that transparency and rigour, as you suggest.

I just want to get your thoughts too, on the social media ban. A big development today in that Snapchat, TikTok and Meta, or Facebook and Instagram have all said now that they can comply as of early December this year, they will make sure that no one under the age of 16 can sign up for their social media services. Do you think there's been a game of bluff until now? They were always able to do this, weren't they? They've got the technology to make this work.

McIntosh

I think more than that, the government has sort of claimed success before the ban has been in place, which is December 10, and I've been questioning all along whether there will be a successful outcome. And it's separate to - we care about the kids, we want kids to be safe online. But it has also been revealed that, and I've been warning about this for some time now, that digital ID may need to be used, that social media companies may ask for digital ID.

And I said to the eSafety Commissioner, who, you know, I'm probably not her best friend, because I've been putting pressure on her wanting, wanting an inquiry into the use of her powers. I said, you've got the powers to enforce digital ID. And she pretty much said, well, I might have the powers, but I don't intend to use them.

So, there are question marks. No, Australia wants to be forced to use digital ID to verify their age. This is moving beyond just protecting our kids. We want them to be safe. But the whole point of this ban was to get kids offline and to stop that terrible bullying that goes on and inappropriate content.

We'll see how it goes. There's still question marks around which platforms are even in or out, and we've only got weeks to go.

Kenny

Yeah, we don't want everyone forced into a digital ID situation. And if you're not a friend of the eKaren, then you're probably a friend of the voters of Australia. Thanks for joining us, Melissa. I appreciate it.