Transcript - Sky News with Kieran Gilbert - 5 August 2025

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

5 August 2025

Subject: Social media age minimum. 

NewsDay on Sky News with Kieran Gilbert 

Kieran Gilbert

 Let's go live to the Shadow Minister for Communications, Melissa Macintosh. Melissa, do you recognise that this is worth having a crack at, even if a lot of this stuff might be difficult to implement?

Melissa McIntosh

Thanks, Kieran. It's good to be speaking with you particularly about such an important subject as protecting our kids. It was the Coalition that developed this policy, and we actually had to drag the government to the table to have this legislated. We support protecting Australian children. We did have questions around the inclusion of YouTube. We would be willing to work with YouTube on protections for children. But the government has made it clear that YouTube is now included; that's the government's decision. We want this to be effective. We want it to protect Australian children. Platforms have until December, but there's still many questions for the platforms for families. How is age verification going to even work? Is the technology ready enough? Is it going be ready enough in time for the 10th of December? But most importantly, want to ensure the focus remains on protecting children. There are some codes that the eSafety Commissioner has power or authority over that does impinge on what some people would think on freedom of speech or adults being able to effectively search the internet without having to log in. There's some elements of what is going on online and when it comes to social media that we’ll be pressing the government on and pressing the government on the powers of the eSafety Commissioner as well. But when it comes to kids, we need to make sure that their safety is utmost priority.

Kieran Gilbert

Yeah, and I know that the Coalition was advocating this for some time there. There've been question marks both in a technical sense. Some psychiatrists also saying, maybe this is missing the point as well from their perspective, but you speak to a lot of parents, what do they tell you as to what, what they want done? Is there a view, do you think, among most families that they want some action here?

Melissa McIntosh

I think overarching parents want their children to be protected and even the parents who are most stringent when it comes to making sure that their kids are safe or they're not on certain platforms, find it difficult at times. I've got three children, so I understand that. And I was also in the shadow mental health portfolio in the last term of government. So, I've spoken to a lot of mental health organisations and we’re not really dealing with those big issues around children's mental health, around issues when it comes to kids having suicidal tendencies or ideations. It's a huge issue and remember the government did cut those Medicare funded psychology sessions in half. I don't think they're doing anywhere near enough when it comes to mental health. So those organisations do have the right to say, ‘well, we are questioning the effectiveness of this ban.’ But we do need to give it a go. The Coalition did support this. We did come up with this policy and we took it to the election. We want it to be the right thing for children, but there's still many questions. It has to be effective, it has to be about the kids. We’ll keep an eye ...

Kieran Gilbert

Yep.

Melissa McIntosh

We'll keep a close eye on it ...

Kieran Gilbert

I think a lot of people would agree with you.

Melissa McIntosh

As we head towards that December deadline.

Kieran Gilbert

I think a lot of people would agree with you, Melissa. I think a lot of people, a lot of families and parents grappling with all of that would agree with you. Thank you. We'll stay in touch. 

Video: My interview with Kieran Gilbert on Sky News