ABC Sydney Breakfast with Craig Reucassel - 30 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

30 June 2026

Transcript

ABC Sydney Breakfast with Craig Reucassel

Topics: NDIS inquiry, Liberal brand

E&OE

Craig Reucassel 

There are a raft of changes coming on July 1, as there always seems to be every year. Melissa McIntosh is the member for Lindsay and the Shadow Minister for NDIS, and she joins us now. Morning, Melissa.

Melissa McIntosh 

Good morning.

Craig Reucassel 

So, yeah, look, the Senate committee scrutinising contentious proposed NDIS cuts has been given an extension after the deal between the Government and the Greens. What do you expect to come from this?

Melissa McIntosh 

This is a big reform to the NDIS. There's no question that the expenditure is way out of control, $50 billion a year, but we need to get it right. The Government needs to get it right. So I pushed really hard for a three-day inquiry, but there is a bit of politics being played behind the scenes, and the Greens and Labor have come up with some sort of deal to extend the hearings, but we don't know what that means yet, whether people have an opportunity, Australians have an opportunity to present their cases in front of Parliament again, and to have their say, whether more submissions can go online. There were over 4000 submissions to this particular inquiry, Australians concerned about these changes, but the Government hasn't even uploaded them all to their website. So it was because Mark Butler made this big announcement at the Press Club that the changes to the NDIS are coming, the cuts are coming, yet there was no consultation with people with disabilities across the country, so it's a bit of a shambles. I'm pushing as hard as I can from the Opposition to make sure that when the cuts do happen, people with profound disability don't fall through the cracks.

Craig Reucassel 

I guess the narrative of this is the Greens have said we've pushed for an eight-week longer investigation, and they have said they're very clear that they will not vote for the NDIS changes, that were in the budget at the end of this. The expectation is the only way this will get through Parliament is with the support of the Coalition. Are you, at the moment, I guess, resolved to support the changes, because you recognise there does need to be changes to the NDIS, or are you still open and not necessarily sure which way the Coalition is going to go?

Melissa McIntosh 

Yeah, it's a fine balance, and in some regards, I imagine people would be pretty cranky with the Greens. They're not supporting the legislation, but they're happy to drag people out again, to you know, to talk about their stories. I don't think that's particularly right from my point of view. I think the inquiry should happen because we can make better amendments, and that's something that I will be doing. I've had a conversation again with Mark Butler yesterday afternoon. I've always said that I want to work constructively with the Government, but that doesn't mean that it's going to be a tick and flick exercise. So, there is a balance between savings that we need to have but also protecting our most vulnerable. One of the big issues I have is that if you've got a profound disability, say you're an amputee, or if you've got Down syndrome, or other disabilities that are quite severe, well, your condition's not going to change. You're not going to not have that disability. Why do you have to get reassessed again by the NDIS and go through all that, all those costs, just to stay on? I think the Government needs to reconsider that part. And something I've said all along is that this legislation doesn't deal with the criminals in the system, which there are criminals in the system, and the fraud, and the rorting, and all that sort of thing that people hate about the NDIS.

Craig Reucassel 

Well, it's interesting you say that they don't deal with the kind of criminal element. Reports today that 17 NDIS fraudsters have been sentenced to more than 60 years in jail collectively, and you know this kind of attempt by the Fraud Fusion Taskforce, is it actually being more effective? Is it actually breaking through and making changes here?

Melissa McIntosh 

One would hope. There's also been recent reports, and it's not really great breakfast listening, that there's people convicted of terrorism receiving the NDIS, paedophiles, murderers, so there's that element too that needs to be cleaned up. Of course, I completely support any fraud clean up, but it's not the full extent of what's been going on.

Craig Reucassel 

Are you saying NDIS providers, as opposed to recipients?

Melissa McIntosh 

No, this is recipients. That example I just gave you was recipients, so it's on both sides, and I'm not at all pointing my finger at recipients saying they're criminals. That's not what I'm saying, but there are examples of people that should not be receiving the NDIS on taxpayers' money, receiving it, and they're really bad people, so that's why people have, I think, Australians have got to a stage where we hear so much about these elements that there has been, and I support Mark Butler on this, has been a bit of a loss of social licence when it comes to the NDIS, because it is a good scheme. It is actually the intent of the scheme to give people better quality of life, to give them their independence. Well, the intent of that is a good thing that the Coalition supports. So this is almost a once in a political generation chance to get reform of the NDIS right. I support that, but as I said, it's not just a tick and flick exercise on behalf of the Coalition.

Craig Reucassel 

So you will be asking for changes to legislation. You'll be asking for changes before you actually pass it?

Melissa McIntosh 

Yes, and I've discussed these, so I won't go into complete detail now, I've discussed these with Mark Butler. I hope the Government will have some amendments that we can support. I've highlighted over many weeks now my concerns about the legislation. I'm hoping the Government listens to that and does the right thing in the interests of Australians with disability.

Craig Reucassel 

Yesterday, you're out and about, including on Drive, talking about, I guess, rebranding the Liberal Party and how it battles One Nation. What do you think the brand of the Liberal Party is, and what should it be?

Melissa McIntosh 

I think that was a reflection of my community. So, I was out on the weekend, we're pretty blunt in Western Sydney. People do say it how it is, and I was receiving quite a bit of feedback that people do support our policies. People are angry, small businesses, I do a lot of work with small businesses, are angry about what they feel is being taken away from them by the Labor Government, and then I will talk to people about what our policies are, supporting small business with instant asset write-off, even our immigration policies, and they're supporting them. Well, why is that not cutting through? So the suggestion is, well, maybe we need to look at -

Craig Reucassel 

If it's not cutting through, that's not a branding problem, that's a leadership problem, isn't it?

Melissa McIntosh 

No, I think if you, your listeners that have been involved with small businesses and companies, it certainly is a branding problem. I believe in the values of the Liberal Party, equality of opportunity is a big one, and people are feeling like they're not getting an opportunity to get ahead and to have a better life for their family. So, if that's not, if the values and the policies aren't cutting through, something that we can certainly have a look at.

Craig Reucassel 

All right, well, we'll watch with interest. Thank you very much, Melissa.

Melissa McIntosh 

Thank you very much.