Transcript - Sky News with Kieran Gilbert - 19 August 2025

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

19 August 2025

Transcript

NewsDay on Sky News with Kieran Gilbert

Topic: Productivity roundtable.

Kieran Gilbert

 Let's go live to the Shadow Minister for Communications and Women, Melissa McIntosh. That sounds pretty positive from Professor Armstrong there from ANU. First session done and constructive, positive, optimistic. You'd welcome that?

Melissa McIntosh

We welcome positivity and optimism, but what we welcome most is that Australia moves forward when it comes to this productivity slump. I was with the Opposition Leader today out in Western Sydney, right in my patch, with a wonderful local, small business Eather Group. They’re in the transport and civil construction business. And they were telling me their own on the ground real story of productivity issues when it comes to pipeline pressures, when it comes to ensuring that drivers in the trucking industry have the skills they need, the lack of skills in this country to support that industry. And they told me about the lack of construction, housing construction, which is having a major impact on their small business. And of course that means their ability to employ local people. So going to Canberra, sitting around the table, having a PR exercise is one thing. Getting out on the ground and listening to real Australians about their struggles is another, and that's what we’re doing.

Kieran Gilbert

How much has it been raised with you the idea of prefabricated modular homes so that it can speed up the construction phase? Some as quick as five or six weeks and the house is up.

Melissa McIntosh

I've heard lots of ideas. Way back before I went into politics, I worked in the community housing sector and one of the gaps there was housing for older women. And we did look at tiny homes. There's been all sorts of great ideas when it comes to housing, but right now we can't get enough housing in this country. And when a construction specialist is telling you that there is a lack of construction going on, they build bricks, they put waste out of building products into new bricks to build homes, and that's a break for the circular economy. But there's just not enough work because there's not enough construction going on. So we welcome the ideas. Of course planning approvals come into it as well. And also working with the states to come up with some solutions to sort of get rid of some of that red tape, that regulation stifles building construction.

Kieran Gilbert

And given one of the early outcomes that we've heard will happen, a freeze on the construction code any changes to it? That's got to be encouraging given it was Peter Dutton's policy?

Melissa McIntosh

I think picking up a Coalition policy of course we are going to be supportive of looking into that. Whether there are changes, of course we'll scrutinise it, but it's quite extraordinary. Labor seems to have come kicking and screaming to another Coalition policy that they were dead against prior to the election. But as I said, we are quite positive and, you know towards the government doing what they're doing, as long as it's not another talk fest. It's been a lot of PR around it. It is literally just people in a room having a talk that should be really about going out around the country and speaking to the people that have other ideas. So people on the ground, they're the ones that come up with tremendous ideas and they know what's going on. The realistic part of this is that living standards are really low. People are struggling, like they've never struggled before. I've said this to you many times on your program. People in Western Sydney are struggling with those higher energy costs. We need to be looking at that as well. Businesses going insolvent. And I heard today from Eather Group that are great woman-owned businesses in construction has just become insolvent and they're throwing their arms up in the air. Like, why? Why is this happening? Why are businesses going out the door, closing their doors at record rate? What is the government doing about that?

Kieran Gilbert

Shadow Minister for Communications and Women, Melissa McIntosh, thanks. See you next week.

Melissa McIntosh

Thank you.