ABC Sydney Mornings with Hamish Macdonald - 30 October 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 October 2026

Transcript

ABC Sydney Mornings with Hamish Macdonald

Topics: Network of Women

E&EO

Hamish Macdonald: The normal business of Parliament was suspended this week to make time for messages of support for the independent MP Helen Haynes, who was struck down by a car outside her electorate office. A 43-year-old man was detained at the scene by bystanders as we know. He's since been charged with dangerous driving, causing serious injury, intentionally causing serious injury and causing harm to a Commonwealth public official. One after another for hours, MPs stood up to speak in the Parliament about Ms Hayne's uncommon kindness, her wisdom and respect for civility as a politician. The alleged attack has prompted women from across the Parliament and across the political spectrum to come together as part of a new group. It is called Network of Women in Parliament, N-O-W or now. Two of those members of this group, Melissa McIntosh, Liberal MP for Lindsay in Western Sydney, Rebekha Sharkie, the Independent MP for Mayo in South Australia. Good morning to you both.

Melissa McIntosh: Good morning.

Rebekha Sharkie: Morning.

Hamish Macdonald: I suppose the question so many of us have as we see politicians reflecting on this moment is whether it will lead to any lasting or meaningful change. Melissa, why does this step, this grouping, make a substantial difference?

Melissa McIntosh: Thanks, Hamish. I think this grouping, the Network of Women, is something that's been coming for some time. I've certainly been wanting to get it up and running and spoken to the government about it, particularly Katy Gallagher. But, you know, you get busy in politics and you get on with your job and it has, unfortunately and sadly, it gives you a bit of guilt that's taken the tragic circumstances of what's happened to Helen to bring us together. Because we do feel like we're in a situation where we're almost useless. What do we do? What do we do about this? So, this is a small step to ensure that when it really matters, the women across the political divide - doesn't matter if you're in the Senate or in the House of Representatives, which party or independent, we stand up for each other and particularly when it comes to women in politics and their safety. So, I think Rebekha knows Helen really well, she might want to say some words about that, but this is the moment. It's not now for women in politics to come together in solidarity. When are we going to do it?

Hamish Macdonald: Yeah, Rebekha, you sit on the crossbenches pretty close to Helen.

Rebekha Sharkie: I do.

Hamish Macdonald: Why do you think a grouping like this will do, like, I guess these are issues we've talked about a lot and the parties tend to try and address it. I think, you know, one of the things that stands out when you go to Parliament is you do see politicians from across the spectrum interacting together more so than I guess we probably see on the television. Is there something that you can do that makes a practical difference?

Rebekha Sharkie: Well, look, I'd like to think so, and really, this is an opportunity to build some connections, in some cases, strengthen some connections, as you say, sometimes some members have connections outside of the chamber. Often it's on the year you came in, that's where you often have your friendship groups. But I think that there are some unique experiences that women who enter politics tend to experience, and it can be quite isolating and quite a lonely place. I mean I'm there as a party of one, and so you know often there's issues that I think are ones that only I'm facing. Yesterday Melissa was talking about a particular app that you can have connected to your social media so that you can effectively I think filter out some of the sexualised or very gendered comments that female politicians do tend to get I think over men. This is not about limiting debate on your social media but just around some of the you know, for want of a better word, really yucky things that get written about us. I had no idea that that even existed. So, our first get together is really going to be a fundraiser for the charity that Helen and Phil have asked Australia to donate to if they've got capacity to. So that's Save the Children. But I think as time goes on, I’d just like us to see more of what we have in common than maybe our difference. And I personally believe we have a lot more in common with each other than we do differences.

Hamish Macdonald: It's three minutes to nine on 7:02 mornings. The app or the AI tool you're talking about there, Rebekha Sharkie, was set up by Areto Labs. We spoke to Jackie Comer, the developer of that software earlier this week.

Audio plays of Jackie Comer: Really, it is a pretty toxic environment these days and it is getting to the point where it is very, very challenging for an individual to keep up with the volume that is coming in.

Hamish Macdonald: Melissa Macintosh, do you use it? Have you made changes to the way you interact publicly?

Melissa McIntosh: Well, right now our staff are on the front line of receiving some of that really aggressive, abhorrent attacks on us, and we're downloading it this week. And Katy said yesterday, Katy Gallagher, that half of the comments on her page, they deleted about 20,000 because of that - half. You're there and your staff are seeing these things and they're horrible. People say they want to blow you up and there are death threats against yourself and your families and your staff and that's just not on. It is not acceptable to behave like that in any shape or form in our society, whether in real life or online. So, it is a bit of a sad state of affairs where we have to have an app to do that because people can't act in appropriate ways but that's where we're at. But even the fact that, like Rebekha just said, she wasn't aware - having a network like we're trying to put together, you know, we can share this information more regularly and to make sure that women across the political spectrum are safe. And when it comes to the non-political policy issues, if we do need to stand together united, we can do that.

Hamish Macdonald: Rebekha, have you changed your public interactions?

Rebekha Sharkie: Well, I think certainly I saw a real difference Hamish after COVID. I found that there's a lot more aggression in the community. I'm certainly far more aware of my surroundings now and I have been for some time. I think I've been fortunate to be a member of parliament for a decade. I think you can get quite complacent in it and in that, you know, everywhere you go, you know, which is part of the joy of the job. But there are risks as well. I mean, you know, I'm five foot four, I couldn't defend myself if I tried. So, there are I guess, challenges that women parliamentarians experience simply because of our physical vulnerability and our gender makes it, our sex makes it very difficult at times.

Hamish Macdonald: Rebekha Sharkie, Melissa McIntosh, we do have to get to the news. Appreciate you both stopping by this morning. Have a great Friday.

Melissa McIntosh: Thank you.