ABC Radio National with Sally Sara - 26 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

26 June 2026

Transcript

ABC RN

Topics: Western Sydney, NDIS, Pauline Hanson ‘monoculture’ comments

E&OE

Sally Sara 

Well, to the federal political sphere now, and the Government's tax reforms, including changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing, have passed Federal Parliament. The Government agreed to end an exemption that allowed self-managed super funds to borrow money to invest in residential properties as part of a deal with the Greens that included extending an inquiry into an overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Melissa McIntosh is the Shadow Minister for the NDIS, Women, Families, and Social Services, and also the MP for the seat of Lindsay in Western Sydney. Melissa McIntosh, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

Melissa McIntosh 

Thank you very much. Good morning.

Sally Sara 

We're broadcasting from Penrith this morning. What's your community telling you about the pressures that people in Western Sydney are dealing with right now?

Melissa McIntosh 

You're certainly in the heartland of Australia, and I'm still stuck in Canberra. So, hello to everyone back home, I can't wait to get there, but when I say heartland of Australia, I really mean that, because it is middle Australia, and people are struggling right now. There's one food bank, Christ Mission Possible, I was at just the other week, and they're feeding 25,000 people a week, and they said to me that it's not the people that you used to see come through, probably lower socioeconomic, borderline homeless, it is the double income families, and the gentleman that works there said it's the working homeless, so people are still working, but they're trading off, you know, buying food to try and keep hold of something over their heads, a roof over their heads, and that's there's real suffering there. So, there's the pressures as well, and I heard you speak to the Premier just prior around infrastructure. We have a major international airport right on our doorstep opening this year, but the freight roads around that airport, and Penrith Council was in Canberra this week, and I caught up with them there as well to try and put some pressure on the Government. The freight, the roads around their major freight, have potholes on them, like goat tracks still, and we have issues with flooding in Penrith, and you talk about trying to get more housing in. Well, there's flood restrictions, and the community and the council wants $50 million from the Government and another $50m from the Commonwealth to be able to have the Castlereagh corridor, which will ease some of the evacuation routes to be able to provide more housing, but there's nothing being done in that regard. So once again I think people in my patch are feeling like we're feeling all the pressures of population growth, of inflation, of cost of living, yet we're not getting any of the relief.

Sally Sara 

Melissa McIntosh is the federal member for the seat of Lindsay in Western Sydney, also Shadow Minister for the NDIS. The Opposition has indicated a willingness to work with the Government to pass the NDIS legislation this sitting fortnight. What do you think would be a better outcome, a longer inquiry into the NDIS changes or legislation passing in this sitting fortnight?

Melissa McIntosh 

I have always been committed as the Shadow Minister for the NDIS in getting this right for the Australian people, I think is a very fine balance between wanting to bring down the expenditure, and we do. I haven't met an Australian that says to me, "No, let's keep spending more", and ensuring that protections are in place for some of our most vulnerable Australians, and going through that inquiry, and I pushed really hard to have that parliamentary inquiry. It was over three days. We heard from people that said we're scared that people will die, and I think they're legitimate concerns. Just this week, I had a case come through my office where sadly a gentleman tried to take his own life because he had his plans cut and he and his wife are basically scared and she can't look after him anymore, yet the NDIS isn't listening, so he's isolated in his home. And this is one case, and it's happening right across the country, and I, as the Shadow Minister, can't close my ears off to that, and I think the Government needs to make sure it's doing everything it can to have supports in place at the other side. The Minister has said no one will fall between two stools, but yet I've heard again this morning from the Queensland Disability Minister that things aren't in place on the other side, and people will fall through the cracks. So we do need to get this right for the Australian people. We do need more scrutiny over this very rushed legislation from the government, but ultimately it is something that I think there's an expectation from the Australian people that there will be a reduction in the cost to the NDIS.

Sally Sara 

Just on a separate issue. There's been more than a week of renewed debate over concepts of multiculturalism and what One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has called monoculturalism. How is Senator Hanson's push to, or criticism of, multiculturalism, how has it been received in your electorate, do you think?

Melissa McIntosh 

I don't think the term monocultural has probably resonated as what it actually is in my electorate. If you're there today, you'll see we have a very diverse community and a wonderful community. I love our diverse community. We've got a growing Indian population, people born or their families from the Philippines, and of course, we've got Anglo Australia, so, and it's worked really well over a long time, and I think that adds to the fabric of my community, and these people that are there are also people that volunteer in our local charities, and they make a strong contribution, so I think the monocultural, what that means hasn't resonated, and I think we need to continue to be a strong multicultural community and country, but with social cohesion expectations, and that was made clear as well by Burgess the other day, talking about the importance of social cohesion when it comes to national security, holding on to our multiculturalism and everything it gives our nation, but having that underlying fabric of social cohesion.

Sally Sara 

Melissa McIntosh, safe travels from Canberra back to the electorate. Thank you for joining me this morning.

Melissa McIntosh 

Thank you. Enjoy Penrith.

Sally Sara 

We are. Melissa McIntosh is the Shadow Minister for the NDIS, Women, Families, and Social Services, and is the Federal member for Lindsay in Western Sydney. Well, political correspondent Stephanie Borys joins me now from Parliament House in Canberra. Steph, rising support for One Nation across the country, and Melissa McIntosh there talking about the benefits of multiculturalism.

Stephanie Borys 

A much clearer response there, Sally, from Melissa McIntosh about the benefits of multiculturalism, and why Australia needs to continue like that, compared to what we heard from the Opposition Leader, Angus Taylor, earlier this year. He wouldn't even rule out the idea of monoculture to start with. He wouldn't use the word multiculturalism, and what's that resulted in this week is essentially the Liberal Party getting themselves a bit tied up in knots about what they are and aren't for. Why? Well, that's as you said, because of that rising support for One Nation. What we're seeing from the opposition is they're still trying to exactly work out how to manage One Nation, because that is a party that is taking a number of votes away from them. Where you are at the moment, and as we've heard from a number of people living in that electorate of Lindsay, and out in Penrith there, it is a multicultural society. There are people with different, differing views, and One Nation is picking up people's interest. People do want to know more about them, but as One Nation grows in significance, there's also more focus on actually wanting to know exactly what Pauline Hanson means when she starts putting these ideas out there, that the expectation is they cannot just be slogans, there has to be significant policy behind that, and that's what appears to be lacking at.