4BC with Gary Hardgrave - 3 March 2026

Melissa McIntosh MP 
Shadow Minister for Women 
Shadow Minister for the NDIS 
Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services

Federal Member for Lindsay

 

3 March 2026

 

Transcript 

4BC with Gary Hardgrave

Topics: New Shadow Ministry Portfolio; NDIS

E&EO … 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Well of course Federal Parliament is back in Canberra this week and for many in the Liberal Party it’s the first sitting week in new portfolios, they’ve got to get their head around that. Angus Taylor spoke to the Liberal Party and the Coalition party room today for the first time as the new Leader of the Opposition. He made a number of changes to his Shadow Cabinet, one person we've got to know on this program who'd held the portfolio of Communications prior to the change of leadership is Melissa McIntosh. She's now taken on the role of spokesperson for Families, Social Services, NDIS and Women. Wow, that is a mega portfolio and she joins us. Well, Melissa, are you up to speed on everything now already? 

 

Melissa McIntosh

Thanks, I only need a couple of days. No rest for the wicked hey. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Well, it must have been really, really bad if you're up to speed on all of that. There's a lot in there, a lot of spending, a lot of people who need you to know what you need to know. 

 

Melissa McIntosh

Well, it is a huge responsibility. We have nearly 8 million families across Australia. We have around a quarter of Australians that have some contact with our social services system and 800,000 Australians supported through the NDIS and it's more than a third of the budget. So, it is a big responsibility and I'm grateful for the trust in me by Angus. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Well, you're going to need your smarts and I think you've got them, Melissa. I don't know you anywhere like I know a couple of the other of your colleagues, but I got to say, you strike me as having the capacity for the hard work and I guess it reflects your electorate as well, in Western Sydney, there'd be a lot of people in your electorate who would relate automatically to these portfolio areas. 

 

Melissa McIntosh

Yes, you're right. I feel like I'm middle Australia, everyday Australians working hard to get ahead. A lot of your listeners would relate that it's really close comparisons to where I'm from and some of the biggest issues, the two biggest issues coming through my electorate office, are Centrelink and the NDIS, and people struggling with cuts to their payments because the Government's trying to cut the budget of the NDIS. But in doing so, we're seeing that a lot of people are not getting the services that they need and one of the big areas that I want to concentrate on in this portfolio, I think probably has been forgotten about, called Families and Social Services. Families are the foundation of our country's future, and I want to bring that back into our policy settings because families right now are working so hard and just not getting ahead. We have a tax and payment system that doesn't reflect families of today. We have big issues with accessibility when it comes to childcare. We need more jobs closer to home and we need housing that gives families a foundation. So, you'll hear more from me around families being right front and centre of our policy formation. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

The thing that really bugs me, and I think it bugs a lot of people, is that the government always seems to have more forms, more processes, more inquiry into everybody's lives to prevent them getting access to the benefits, particularly for pensioners. I think it'd be cheaper just to give everybody above a certain age the pension instead of having to hire tens of thousands of public servants to stop them getting it. I think it's probably also true for a lot of families who just reasonably need just a little bit of sign that the Government's actually realising that, as you say, families are the basis of our strong community. 

 

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, and that's right. We've got families and you need to organize your work and your care in different ways and it's quite extraordinary to me, and we haven't settled on this policy at all, that you can't split an income of a household when you're a couple, you're treated as two individuals and you're taxed in that way. So, two households earning the same combined income can pay very different amounts of tax simply because one parent may work full time and another parent may work part time. So, I think the fact that our tax system alone doesn't recognise families is a real issue and it is impacting people that are working really hard just to get ahead. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Spot on. I think that's a really great sentiment. I mean anytime you bring in things like income splitting or finding ways to have people pay less tax, there'll be those who say, but how are we going to pay for things? Guess what? Stop spending money would be my view. Government spending too much money on too many things. 

 

Melissa McIntosh

Yes, that's right. There's a big focus right now in the NDIS, and of course we don't want people rorting the system, but it seems like some people that have really relied a lot on the NDIS because they have severe disability are getting payments cut. So, if we feel like the government's cutting in the wrong areas will be holding them accountable as well. These systems are meant to be set up, both the social services system and the NDIS, to support those most in need and we've lost way with that. We've lost way. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Yeah, we have. We seem to beat up older Australians, especially. 

 

Melissa McIntosh

I've got older parents and I'm going through the aged care system right now to try and keep them in their home and even for me, as a Member of Parliament, I'm finding it difficult to navigate the system. I could just imagine a poor older person in their home alone, trying to sort out their care for the future. That would be almost impossible. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Yeah, I call it systemic elder abuse myself. I'm pretty colourful now that I'm out of Parliament, I can be a lot more colourful than you. You're trying to become the Minister, I'm just simply calling it as I see it and I'm not happy at all. I guess the NDIS, you've got to find a way to prune that back. I mean, what sort of changes do you think it needs? 

 

Melissa McIntosh

Well, I think first and foremost it is around ensuring that people that need the payment are the ones that are getting it and we're hearing that there's been a cut to a lot of payments for people who really do need it. That's the biggest issue coming through my office in Western Sydney. On the other hand, we heard just the other day, somebody called up to get a cleaner and they got quoted $40 and then they said, oh, great, we'll put it on my NDIS plan and then they up the price to $140. That's rorting the system. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Yeah. 

 

Melissa McIntosh

The fact that you've upped the charges by that extraordinary amount of money. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Yeah. 

 

Melissa McIntosh

So, these are the things that we need to look at and I'm just running into the Chamber now, speaking to you for a division. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Okay. So, you're running in. Have you got another minute or not? You've got to. 

 

Melissa McIntosh

I think I've got about 30 seconds. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

All right, no worries, running into the Chamber to do that. I guess either way, you're really pumped up about this new portfolio. I was going to ask you, given that you come from Penrith, the Broncos will beat Penrith, how big do you think the margin will be? 

 

Melissa McIntosh

Never. Never. I think we were ripped off last time, those cheating Broncos. 

 

Gary Hardgrave

Okay, well, you know, despite that, you're welcome back anytime, Melissa. Go and vote. Whatever you're going to do in the Chamber, I don't want to keep you.