ABC Northern Tasmania Breakfast with Kim Napier - 9 June 2026

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

9 June 2026

Transcript

ABC Northern Tasmania Breakfast with Kim Napier

Topics: NDIS Senate inquiry

E&EO

Kim Napier 

Now, though, the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, as we've heard in the news, is back under the spotlight, with Senate hearings getting underway today on the federal government's proposed NDIS reforms. More than 16,000 Tasmanians rely on the NDIS. So, what does the Senate inquiry mean for participants and families here in Tassie? And what concerns are being raised about the Scheme's future? Melissa McIntosh is the Shadow Minister for the NDIS and has been pushing for these hearings. Good morning to you.

Melissa McIntosh 

Good morning.

Kim Napier 

For people who haven't followed every twist and turn of this debate, what is this Senate inquiry actually examining, and why do you believe it's necessary?

Melissa McIntosh 

Well, these are big changes that the Government announced a few weeks back now with no consultation with the disability community, which would include all of your listeners who are on the NDIS, and that's caused a lot of anxiety. My office has been overwhelmed with people emailing and phoning, and it's pretty consistent, just not knowing what this means. So I pushed really hard with the Government to have an inquiry, and there's been over 4000 submissions to this inquiry, and the Government's only managed to get about 400 of those up on their website as the inquiry is opening today. So this will be a chance for disability advocates, organisations, and people on the NDIS themselves to have their say through both the submissions and the public hearings, and to question the Government, because there's still so many questions around how this is going to work.

Kim Napier 

You mentioned that many in the disability community are anxious about the reforms. What are the biggest concerns you're hearing from participants and their families? Is it increased pressure on parents, as an example?

Melissa McIntosh 

That's one of them. There are many. People are feeling already that they're being pushed off the Scheme or their plans have been cut, and this is what I'm hearing. So that it's already, things are in train. The reassessments do concern people, so some disabilities - they're lifelong, they're never going to change, such as someone that's an amputee, your legs just don't grow back. Yet you're going to have to go through this whole process again to stay on the NDIS, and that's costly, and that's very time consuming. So they're a couple of the issues, the ministerial powers that the Minister is giving himself - could be female in the future - but right now, giving himself with very little in the legislation, very little detail on what this means. But one of the powers that the Minister will have is to make cuts to people's plans, and then also the automation of the processing concerns people as well, and ensuring that something like robodebt never happens again.

Kim Napier 

Well, the government does argue the NDIS needs reform because costs are growing rapidly. Do you agree that changes are needed, and where should the focus be?

Melissa McIntosh 

100%. I don't think any of the submissions that I've seen put any question around the need to rein in the spending, it's costing Australian taxpayers $50 billion a year and growing. It's more around ensuring this is done right. The Government has already committed to reduce growth to 8% and 5% and want to get to 2% with these changes, yet they haven't achieved the 8% and 5% yet. So that's a big question. They also frame this whole thing around the background of fraud, stopping fraud in the system, and the Minister himself said that the NDIS is losing its social licence because of corruption, crooks, and criminals within the NDIS, but this legislation does very little to address the fraud, nor bring any budget spending down due to fraud.

Kim Napier 

So, you would like to see that be a focus. Here in Tasmania, many families already struggle to access disability services outside of the NDIS. If people lose eligibility or support, what alternatives would be available to them?

Melissa McIntosh 

That's the number one question. I think the government needs to commit that you can't get kicked off the Scheme until there's somewhere else to go. When it comes to Thriving Kids, kids that have low levels of autism - there's this program that the Government's announced, yet states have to be stepping up to take on this responsibility, and the states aren't all agreeing to do that. And no one - I haven't found one person in this whole country that has any of the details around how Thriving Kids is going to work. So there is a lot of concern around getting kicked off the Scheme, yet not being supported or having to be picked up by the health budget, and that is purely a cost shifting exercise.

Kim Napier 

So, if a Tasmanian family has someone on the NDIS, and they're worried by what they're hearing, should they be concerned right now, or is there still a long way to go before any changes take effect?

Melissa McIntosh 

Well, some changes will start happening straight away, and as I said, there's people that are having their plans already cut, or the processing times are becoming longer, and that's one of the pieces in the legislation, that processing times are going from 21 days to 90 days, so I do encourage your listeners to reach out to their local member of parliament if they are concerned, because your MP can get in contact with the NDIA, with the NDIS, and the Minister himself to help you out. In my office, even though we're in Sydney, as a Shadow Minister, is taking inquiries as well.

Kim Napier 

All right. Well, thank you for your time this morning, Melissa. Appreciate it.

Melissa McIntosh 

Thank you.