2SM with Chris Smith - 21 April 2026

Melissa McIntosh MP 

Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services

Shadow Minister for the NDIS

Shadow Minister for Women

Federal Member for Lindsay 

 

21 April 2026

 

Transcript 

2SM with Chris Smith

 

Topics: QLD data analyst money laundering claims; Budget announcements; Superannuation changes; Housing supply and prices; NDIS changes

 

E&EO … 

 

Chris Smith

Let's get to the number one fan of the Penrith Panthers, the member for Lindsay, Shadow Minister for Women, for the NDIS, for Families and Social Services, a lot on her plate. Melissa McIntosh, a very good morning to you.

 

Melissa McIntosh

Good morning.

 

Chris Smith

I'm worried about a lot of things today. I'm worried about what's coming with this budget. I have a feeling we're going to get a big tax bomb out of the budget, but I'll get to that in just a second. Another huge story which the Australian newspaper has today comes from Queensland and it hasn't got too much coverage, but it concerns a data analyst who's been identified as the daughter of an Iranian diplomat, but the kicker is this daughter has been implicated in a money laundering scheme to fund the terror group Hezbollah. So, she's risen through the ranks of Queensland Health for a decade undetected but indirectly funding a terror group. This is a real worry, isn't it?

 

Melissa McIntosh

The reports are certainly concerning. Obviously, I have about as much detail on that as you do right now so I wouldn't want to risk saying something that we shouldn't without having the full knowledge or why she might be here in the first place. There's a lot of gaps in this story so when things like this happen, and it's concerning obviously to the Australian public, I think the questions now go to the government about what they know, what's the national security risk, if any, and what are they going to do about it, what are their investigations? Because it is on the face of it, a concerning report.

 

Chris Smith

Yeah, we're looking for some kind of response from Tony Burke, but at this stage, nothing. Now, in terms of things related to the budget, a whole heap has been released already and I have a feeling we're going to face a huge tax bomb because not only is the world in a perilous situation with the oil crisis, but leading up to the oil crisis, the government has got us into all kinds of debt problems, a trillion dollars in debt. One of the things that has been mentioned by the Treasurer is maybe a change to superannuation. You know, one of the things I hate governments doing, and I mean both sides. I hate when governments shift the goal posts on something that we have been investing in for decades.

 

Melissa McIntosh

You're right and it causes anxiety across the board, and it seems an unusual time that the government's is doing this. Governments do float ideas, but it seems pretty excessive at the moment across the board. So, you've got this happening in superannuation, you've got it happening when it comes to Capital Gains Tax, you've got it happening in the NDIS and all of these changes directly impact Australians and the potential for them not to be receiving a service that they might need, or as you said, paying a whole lot more in tax. So, we're all waiting to see where the government's going, but right now it seems like they don't really have an idea so they're just trying to work out how they're going to stem the bleeding from their excessive spending, which you said rightly was happening prior to the war breaking out and I think Australians are starting to see through this, I surely hope they are. One of the concerns I've particularly had is we went through the global financial crisis and one of the things that kept people going this time is around unemployment not being too high. When that happened during the GFC, unfortunately it really impacted people's mental health and we saw, sadly, a lot of suicides because people couldn't handle the financial strain. So, if there’s things going on now that will impact unemployment in this country, put more pressure on families, which we know is happening right now, the concerns around how much people can take is rightfully a real concern.

 

Chris Smith

It sure is. Meanwhile, they're considering abolishing the current Capital Gains Tax discount regime and reverting to a system we used during the Hawke and Keating governments, and a few cartoonists have had a little bit of a play at that today. Are you concerned about what impact this may have on house prices and supply and those with a small investment in an apartment somewhere?

 

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, of course and the questions around this is that economists are saying it's going to make very little difference around housing. The issue with housing is we don't have enough supply of housing, and we've got 1.6 million more people coming into this country and pressures on everything from housing to infrastructure to hospitals, schools - all services. We should be looking at, and this is something I'm looking at in my Families portfolio is around how we can increase supply for families because something that is completely out of reach right now is having housing, unlocking planning, that enables more families to move into their home in addition to young people. So, there is no evidence right now that the government, and again they're floating this all the time right, they've been floating changes consistently and then when it's out in the media and the Treasurer steps up, or Katy Gallagher, they deny that anything's going to happen. So, again, confusion, the whole reason that changes were made, backed by Howard and Costello, was to simplify it and I think Australians deserve certainty about where the government's going to be going on this and I guess that's going to make a difference.

 

Chris Smith

Correct. I guess they're a little bit are shy or gun shy, because Bill Shorten started to play around in this part, hand in hand with Chris Bowen of course, the Minister for Disasters, and then it lost him the unlosable election. So, I guess they're floating it well and truly before the budget so they can work out whether they can get away with it or not.

 

Melissa McIntosh

Well, that might be true, but when you have economists coming out and saying that it’s going to make little difference and the government is not doing anything to address supply, it's actually failing in this regard right now. Maybe they are testing it, but I don't see any positivity coming their way from the majority of Australians. This is what happened with Bill Shorten, him hitting the mum and dad investors with the housing tax did absolutely help lose them that particular election.

 

Chris Smith

It did, it did. Now as Shadow Minister for the NDIS, what are you expecting to be announced tomorrow by the Minister? And let's hope they do something decent to get this in a little bit more sustainable form.

 

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, and I think it has to be more than just being sustainable. As I've said, we've had this discussion, it is out of control, but this is the key area where the floating of ideas really does upset people that have severe disability. The whole reason why it was set up in the first place for our most vulnerable people and now it's a system that is full of rorts. So, what we're hearing there could be something on registration, I've been doing a lot of work on this since I got in with my team, is around having 94% of providers unregistered opens it up.

 

Chris Smith

It does. They've all got to be registered for a start.

 

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, absolutely.

 

Chris Smith

What about means testing?

 

Melissa McIntosh

The means testing is something that the government floated, it was Butler, he opened the door to it, and it caused a lot of anxiety. The reason why it caused a lot of anxiety was people didn't really understand how it would impact them and there are issues in that. I think more analysis needs to be done on whether means testing would really make a difference because you might have a young person that's supported by their parents, but what happens when they reach 18 and they don't have that support? And some families need a lot of support, they might be middle income families, but if it's means tested they might not be able to afford that wheelchair. This is when it comes back to quality of care and absolutely having the NDIS for those people who need it most. So, at the moment it doesn't seem like means testing is on the table. Accommodation, there's some real big issues.

 

Chris Smith

I spoke about this with Linda Reynolds at the start of the program. The former Senator, supported independent living has gone from about $200,000 per person to $400,000 per person and when you start breaking down that, you work it out at about, well, it's in excess of $1,000 a night for accommodation.

 

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, that's one of the areas that's completely lost control and they're only just looking at registration for accommodation providers now. So, this means a whole lot of rorting in that part, and these are people that have direct access to people with disabilities. So that is a big piece, and hearing that in some areas there's an oversupply of accommodation, the government's paying for it and there's no one using this accommodation, in other areas they don't have enough, so that is clear that the accommodation area needs a complete overhaul of the system. And then you're also looking at things like Thriving Kids that nobody really understands what's going on there. So, it's around the government trying to move children with mild autism out of the NDIS, which sounds reasonable, but then the states have to pick up that service and I'm hearing from a lot of families that that's not happening right now. So, there's this big gap of people not getting what they need and something that does concern me quite significantly because I see it play out on the streets here in Penrith is the psychosocial support. People who need mental health support was being looked after by the states, went onto the NDIS, the government's trying to offload that to the states again. Meanwhile, our mental health units and hospitals are overrun with people needing mental health support and just not getting it and you can walk down any high street across our country and see people that are sleeping rough with severe mental health issues.

 

Chris Smith

Ah, very true, very true. Just one last thing, what have you noticed in your area of Western Sydney, the way people have changed their behaviour because of the petrol crisis?

 

Melissa McIntosh

People are just ultra suffering. A lady came up to me at an Anzac service just over the weekend and her son and daughter in law, I think it is, have a trucking business and they move fertiliser, they've had to take their truck off the road, they're about to lose their business. This is in Western Sydney, not in rural Australia, and small business is struggling. They were struggling before, people just as I think I've said to you, there's just no give left. There's no buffer in people's lives financially and they're having to give up a lot right now and they just don't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Chris Smith

Very true and savings are being whittled down to virtually nothing. Appreciate your time Melissa, all the very best for the rest of the week.

 

Melissa McIntosh

Thankyou, thanks so much.

 

Chris Smith

Good on you. Member for Lindsay, Shadow Minister for Women, for the NDIS, for Families and Social Services, Melissa McIntosh.