‘I want us to have more cut-through’: McIntosh doubles down on rebrand call
Melissa McIntosh is back on the airwaves this morning after causing a stir yesterday when calling for her party to “rebrand”.
She says it wasn’t her intention to cause such a stir and concedes she was being pretty “blunt”. But doubles down when speaking to the Today show and says that if the message isn’t being sold to the community, then perhaps the brand should change.
Just to recap, McIntosh yesterday told Sky News:
Some people think that we’re stuck in the past and our policies need to resonate with the Australia of today and the future. So I think it’d be a really good time for us to revisit our values.
Today she says the party does have strong values in “sticking up for small businesses and the individual”, but those values aren’t getting cut through.
If things aren’t resonating, and if people are actually latching on to our policies and believing in that, but they’re not wanting to vote for us, then maybe we need to do something about the brand,
I want us to have more cut-through on our policies. I worked for John Howard back in the day, and my patch, we were the Howard battlers, we’re the Menzies Forgotten people, and we’re Tony Tradie. So we are pretty much the heartland of Australia. And when the heartland of Australia tells you that you need to get more cut-through to get more voters on your side, then you need to listen to the people.
Yesterday, the Labor party weaponised her call in question time – we’ll see if they do it again.
Key events
Josh Taylor
Amazon responds to ACCC case
Just in response to the earlier news that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking Amazon to court over alleged unfair contract terms that allowed the company to charge Prime users extra for Prime Video free of ads, the company’s spokesperson has sent the following response:
We are reviewing the case filed by the ACCC in detail. We have cooperated with the ACCC throughout its investigation and remain focused on providing the best experience for our Australia
Josh Taylor
Consumer watchdog sues Amazon over charging Prime users extra for no ads
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken Amazon to the federal court alleging the company breached consumer law by introducing advertising for Prime Video users, and charging customers extra to opt out.
Amazon customers who pay a Prime prescription of $79 per year, or $9.99 per month, previously had access to the company’s streaming video platform as part of the overall subscription package at no extra charge.
In 2024, Amazon introduced advertising to the platform, and users who wanted to keep the streamer ad free would need to pay $2.99 extra per month.
In the federal court case launched by the ACCC on Tuesday, the watchdog has alleged that Amazon’s Australian Prime contracts with over 1 million annual subscribers between November 2023 and August 2025 contained five unfair contract terms to allow the changes without offering subscribers a remedy.
The ACCC chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said:
We allege that Amazon AU included multiple unfair terms in its contracts with Australian annual Prime subscribers, and it then relied on some of these terms to bring ads on to Amazon Prime Video.
Consumers who wanted to avoid ads were left with no choice but to pay more to maintain the service they’d initially signed up for.
The ACCC also alleges that Amazon’s US parent company was involved in the drafting of the Australian contracts.
The ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, consumer redress, costs and other orders.
Amazon was approached for comment.
It’s the second case against Amazon launched by the ACCC this year, following court action in May over kids products sold on Amazon’s marketplace that allegedly failed to comply with mandatory button battery warning requirements.
‘We just have to keep on those messages,’ says O’Brien
Ted O’Brien has moved down the press gallery corridor into the Sky News studio, where he’s once again asked whether the Liberals need a rebrand – he says he’s not proposing one but concedes communication by the party should be better.
He basically says that the current message is right – it just needs to be said louder and heard by more Australians.
While I’m not proposing a rebranding for the Liberal party, I can see where Melissa [McIntosh] is going with this because we do need to communicate more with the Australian public about the fact that it’s only the Liberal party that we’ll look after Australian families.
I think we just have to keep on those messages.
Asked about whether the Coalition is hoping for One Nation’s preferences, O’Brien says he wants as many first preferences for the Liberals and Nationals as possible, but is open to it.
I’m hoping that we can garner as many primary votes as we can.
Do we want preferences? Yes, from her [Pauline Hanson] from everybody, I’m talking about citizens who vote, we want their preferences.
As for preference deals being done, well that’s a different story. Firstly, that’s up to the organisational wing, but putting that to the side, now’s not the time to be doing preference deals. You do that in the usual way in the political cycle, which is right at the end.
Wilson rejects push for Liberal rebrand
While Melissa McIntosh might be calling for a rebrand, Tim Wilson seems eager to stay on the same message and talk about how the “best word we have is ‘liberal’”.
Why then, asks a journalist, do only 17% of voters want to put a “1” next to the name?
Wilson says:
Liberalism is not just an end in itself; it’s an enlivening of how people can live out their best lives.
A journalist pushes back again, asking why that message isn’t cutting through, which Wilson then replies, “I’ve said consistently there’s a lot more work to do.”
He’s then asked whether the messaging needs to change to get the ideas through to the public.
Again, Wilson doesn’t really want to engage with the calls for a rebrand, and answers:
It’s not just about identifying the problem; it’s also about pointing out what the clear solutions are. What do we want? We want an Australia where hard work pays off, Australians feel in control of their own lives, and of course, that they feel a basic sense of respect.
Liberal rebrand ‘not my proposal’, says O’Brien
Ted O’Brien says he agrees with his colleague Melissa McIntosh that the Liberals need to better communicate with the public, but doesn’t join her call for a full rebrand.
He also rebukes questions on whether the leadership should be replaced if Angus Taylor’s message isn’t cutting through to the public.
O’Brien clearly doesn’t want to engage and tries to quickly switch the narrative to how the public are getting poorer.
While that’s not my proposal, I think what Melissa is getting at is right in that we need to communicate our plan. And Mel [Clarke], that’s why, with all respect, I’m pushing back on some of these questions about wanting to talk polling and leadership. Right now, the Australian people are poorer. They’re poorer than they were years ago … Now, what’s the plan to get out of that? The plan is the biggest, most consequential tax reform by the Taylor government.
Pacific regional security pact ‘the next step’, says O’Brien
Following Pat Conroy in the RN Breakfast hot seat is shadow foreign affairs minister, Ted O’Brien, who says Australia should support and be a part of a regional security pact.
It’s an idea the Coalition has committed to, and one Solomon Islands have recently floated.
O’Brien says a pact should be negotiated through the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
I think a regional security pact here – we are talking about partners within the region, again, Australia is a part of that region and I think it is the next step.
I do believe over the years there have been bilateral agreements put in place, there have been some multilateral agreements, but now is the time for us to step up even further in the Pacific and ensure that the stability of the region is secured.
I continue to push this from the Coalition’s perspective. But it has to be owned by the region. It has to be co-designed by the region. And it shouldn’t just deal with issues of military security, but maritime security.
Conroy was also asked about the idea of a regional security pact earlier and said “We’re open to it. We’re always driven by what the Pacific sets as its priorities.”
Conroy says government ‘hopeful’ of concluding treaty with Fiji
Off the back of inking the deal with Vanuatu, the prime minister announced yesterday he’ll shortly be visiting Fiji where there’s another agreement in negotiation.
Pat Conroy tells RN Breakfast that he won’t get ahead of Anthony Albanese but he’s feeling pretty good about that agreement – known as the Vuvale Union – being resolved.
We’re still negotiating the Vuvale treaty and we’re hopeful of concluding it, but I’m not going to get ahead of the prime minister, but I’m very confident in our relationship that Prime Minister Rabuka has pioneered through the Pacific Island Forum, and I’m hopeful that our relationship will get even closer very shortly.
Albanese will also be visiting Solomon Islands.
Wong extends deepest sympathies to family of teenager killed in Thailand
Jumping back into her interview on ABC News Breakfast, Wong is asked what consular assistance has been provided to the Australian man suspected of killing a 17-year old girl in Thailand.
The foreign affairs minister, says first that she extends her deepest sympathies to the girls’ friends and family, and that she has been horrified by what’s been reported.
She won’t provide any details of what consular assistance has been offered. She also says she has not yet spoken to her counterpart in Thailand, but there has been some engagement on the issue at the “official level”.
I want to start by saying this is horrific and I think we’ve all been horrified by what has been reported and extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends who have lost someone they love dearly.
We provide consular assistance to people. I’m not able to provide details about because I’m bound by privacy requirements but all Australians have access to consular support around the world when necessary.
I know there has been engagement at the official level and I will be obviously going to be Asean meeting, so I no doubt will have the opportunity to speak with my foreign minister counterpart there.
Vanuatu promises to ‘consult’ with Australia on third-party investment in critical infrastructure
The minister for defence industry and the Pacific, Pat Conroy, is celebrating the treaty signed by Vanuatu and Australia yesterday, and is asked to explain what consultation will look like on third-party investment in critical infrastructure under that agreement.
The minister tells ABC RN Breakfast that the consultation process will allow Australia to help assess countries understand “what they’re getting, understand both the opportunities and also the risks that that poses”.
Asked whether he believes that consultation process will be honoured under future governments, Conroy says “any issues around implementation of the treaty will be gone through the Nakamal Committee to resolve”.
Our requirement to consult is merely talking to us about what they’re planning and also us providing planning and technical assistance around that infrastructure.
These clauses are obviously constructed so that if there’s infrastructure that could be potentially militarised, there’s an opportunity through the Nakamal Committee, which is implementation committee of the treaty, because that’s really important in our region. We’re in the middle of a great power contest in our region. It’s really important that we don’t have foreign military bases in the Pacific.
Australia providing consular assistance to seven people after Venezuela earthquakes
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says the government is providing consular assistance to seven individuals affected by the earthquakes in Venezuela.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, she won’t reveal more details, but says the quakes were “utterly devastating”.
It has been utterly devastating and more parties are working through the scale of those who were lost and those who are still trapped. This is very distressing situation for all and we extend our deepest sympathies to the people of Venezuelan.
We are providing some consular assistance to some seven individuals. We obviously will continue to engage with authorities to determine if any Australians need further assistance.
Asked to confirm whether the seven are Australian citizens, Wong won’t say and repeats that the government is providing assistance to “seven individuals”.
