ABC Sydney Drive with Sarah Gerathy - 29 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

29 June 2026

Transcript

ABC Sydney Drive with Sarah Gerathy

Topics: Penrith police incident with homeless man, Liberal brand, One Nation polling

E&OE

Sarah Gerathy 

Now, you might have seen a video doing the rounds on the weekend of an interaction between police and a homeless man on High Street in Penrith last week. The man's outside some shops with a shopping trolley, he's asked to move on, there's a bit of swearing, and he does eventually start to go, and one of the police officers pushes him up against the wall. They continue to talk, and eventually the man does move on. But the MP for Lindsay, Melissa McIntosh, says she's heard from a number of concerned residents and has since asked police to explain what happened. I asked her about the concerns of residents a little earlier.

Melissa McIntosh 

I think it's the visuals of that particular video, obviously we don't know what happened prior to the video starting to roll, but it seems like a pretty unacceptable circumstance, and people were genuinely concerned that this gentleman had an altercation with this police officer. There's two issues here as well, so there's that particular altercation, and I've written to - I wrote straight away yesterday to the Nepean Police Area Commander and the New South Wales Minister for Police, as well as the state member for Penrith, for them to review the matter. There's thousands of people on my social media now, I think there's around 600,000 views, just of those words after I expressed my concern. I haven't heard back from the Minister or the police or the state member as yet. There's a secondary concern here, and that's around the issue of homelessness on our streets, and Penrith, like many other towns and suburbs across Australia, is experiencing an increased number of people that are homeless and homeless with mental health issues as well, and I've been worried about this for some time, and I've got a shadow portfolio, the NDIS, and there is talk around the psychosocial supports moving off the NDIS to a state-run program, and my concern here is that people that do need support might fall through the cracks because there is nothing on the other side for them.

Sarah Gerathy 

The man doesn't necessarily appear to have been injured. It does settle down fairly quickly, but you mentioned, you know, the increase in homelessness in the area. Do you think that police in your electorate are adequately trained to know how to talk to homeless people?

Melissa McIntosh 

I would hope so. And I also don't want to come down across the board on our police force. They do a lot of work, they're on the front line, and my office is next door, and I have a lot of respect for our police force and the work they have to do, and this is the first time that I've seen an altercation like this, but you would hope that the training is adequate, but as I'm the federal member, I don't have a whole lot of access into the ins and outs of the training of the police force, but that's something that could be reviewed as well. It's an increasingly volatile environment right now, with cost of living and people on the edge, and being pushed into homelessness. One foodbank provider said it's no longer the working poor, it's the working homeless, where people are going to food banks, so they can barely just keep a roof over their heads, but they don't want to be out on the street. So, there is a bigger issue at play here.

Sarah Gerathy 

So, are you encouraged? Are you encouraged by your electorate's response to this? You say you've had an overwhelming number of people view the video and reach out to you as well. Does it show that people are looking out for each other, are looking out for, you know, the disadvantaged in our society?

Melissa McIntosh 

Of course, and I think that it does give me hope in the Australia of the future, that when it comes down to it, people do care for each other, and we might have our differences, but that's another reason why Australia is the best country in the world, and I know my community has a huge community spirit and will do anything they can to help each other out. So, I think that's on clear display by the sincere concern that people have been expressing for the situation, and also for this gentleman and other people experiencing homelessness across the community.

Sarah Gerathy 

Just moving on to a couple of other matters now. First one, the elephant in the room, probably. The Coalition has fallen to 17% in the latest Newspoll. In the Redbridge poll, Angus Taylor's personal rating has fallen five points. Is he the right person for the job?

Melissa McIntosh 

Yeah, I completely back our direction under Angus. We're putting out our policies at rapid pace and working really hard on that, and I've got three, four actual shadow portfolios, so I'm in the midst of doing that. I think that we can't lay blame on a leader, but I think, and I've said this pretty openly, that we should be looking at the brand of the Liberal Party, and colleagues have been saying this as well, and I support Angus in the work for us to rebuild our party, and to be a viable choice for Australians approaching the next election, because we are the only party of government, as opposed to the Labor Party, so it's up to us to lay out our clear plan and what we offer Australia.

Sarah Gerathy 

So, you're saying you're backing his direction on one hand, but on the other hand, you're saying you need a rebrand. Isn't the rebrand essentially also about the direction of the party, which you say is going okay under Angus Taylor?

Melissa McIntosh 

Well, I think when you look at any businesses that do a rebrand, you go back to, and this is where it's a party, it's not one individual, and what a business does is look at its values and its mission statement and what it believes in, and what it offers, and that's, there's no difference to that than the Liberal Party looking, going back to our foundations and what our values are, and not saying that they should change, but how do we communicate those values, and what we stand for, and what we offer Australians, to the Australian people, and is that resonating with people, and if it isn't, we need to take a deeper look at that.

Sarah Gerathy 

So, it's a problem with the sales pitch more than a problem with the product.

Melissa McIntosh 

No, I'm not saying, I think they all, that goes hand in hand. You wouldn't say that about a business, it's just a problem with the sales pitch. But if you're not going too well in the polls, you've got to look at things in a multifaceted way and address every single overlapping part of that, and work hard to get it right.

Sarah Gerathy 

So, you've repeatedly previously stated that you'd like to lead the party in the future. What would a rebrand look like if you were to be in charge of it?

Melissa McIntosh 

Well, that's why we have experts that do that, good at the politics, and then you know, but I think first and foremost, we need to be listening to our communities, and I've never backed away from that. I've always said, I put my people first, and I took the seat off Labor, and have held it twice against the tide, and that's because not waving a magic wand around, but because I listen to people, and then I fight for what they need, and stand up for my community in the Australian Parliament. I'll never back down from that. So, I think that's fundamentally what we need to do as a party, is have that real community focus, but we also need to appeal to, you know, the majority of Australians, and I have women's oriented portfolios now, I'm the Shadow Minister for Women and Shadow Minister for Social Services, and we know, we've been very open in saying that we lost those voters at the last election, so how are we getting them back, and how do we ensure that we are appealing to women and families as well?

Sarah Gerathy 

And just lastly, One Nation says it's got Western Sydney in its sights. Would you like to see the Liberal leader stronger against One Nation in order to increase the chances of you holding onto your seat?

Melissa McIntosh 

I think it's not about being stronger against One Nation. I've certainly worked with One Nation voters in my seat over many years, we were very strong on the No vote, 70% no in my electorate, and the One Nation voters supported me in that, and I was very strong against Net Zero, because that's what my community wanted, so it's not that they're a threat in my patch, and I don't see them like that at all. And it's quite interesting, you're talking about the polls, when I was out in the weekend, I wasn't getting a whole lot of anger or anything. Everyone still seems pretty supportive, so it's not necessary that we have to go hard against One Nation or be aggressive or angry at them. The people of Australia are saying that they are not happy, and they want to be listened to. So, we need to make sure that we're the party that's listening to them.

Sarah Gerathy 

That's Melissa McIntosh, Liberal Party front bencher, and the MP for Lindsay.