News 24 AM Agenda with Laura Jayes - 20 October 2026

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

20 October 2026 

Transcript  

News 24 AM Agenda
Topics: Helen Haines
 
Laura Jayes:
Joining me now is the Shadow Minister for Women and NDIS, Melissa McIntosh. Good to see you. Ricky there reminds us all that there are overwhelmingly good people in all of our communities.

Melissa McIntosh:
Laura, I was just thinking that. That's a good Aussie bloke isn't it, the barber coming to help a fellow Australian in need, and that fellow Australian is Helen Haines. It's really hard to hear, and to comprehend, and to digest. On one hand you feel like crawling up in a ball and on the other you feel really activated to make change because as we know there's been warnings for some time and regardless of the circumstances of this particular incident, we know there's an increase in violent attitudes towards politicians. Just a couple of weeks ago I had Women for Election, an organisation that supports women in public life, including journalists, saying that there's a lot more attacks online and in public against women politicians and journalists too. So, we need to step up. It's a really hard time to get your brain into that space when you're just dealing with the shock.

Laura Jayes:
I've spoken to so many of your colleagues, in my industry and yours right across the spectrum of Parliament this morning and the overwhelming feeling is that everyone's shaken. Is that what you would say about yourself today?

Melissa McIntosh:
Yeah, I want to get a bit outraged, but in respect for Helen because she's always been so calm and she's got this great composure about her, I'm trying to channel her as well. I go out into my community, I'm looking across the road to a park in Penrith, and I like to just be by myself. That's the best way I interact with people in my community, not necessarily with a cast of thousands around me. To think that we may not be able to do that sometime in the future, well that's what makes a community Member of Parliament and Helen is the best example of a community MP, going out into her electorate, speaking to her people, being on the ground, knowing her barber next door. I would hate to think that will be impacted in the future. Otherwise, what's this job about? If you can't stand up for your community, you can't be amongst your community, we don't want democracy to, you know crumble a little bit over time, which is what the Speaker of the House, Milton Dick has said recently.

Laura Jayes:
Yeah, I think stoicism is one of the attributes you need as an MP and you've always needed a toughness. But do you look at Helen in this situation and think I could be doing something else here?

Melissa McIntosh:
No, I think compassion is important as well. You do need to be a bit thick skinned. But the reason why you come into politics is because you care about your community and you want to make this country even better. But there's a lot going on right now, I won't deny that just on the high street here in Penrith, there's an increased amount of mental health problems, more violence on our streets, there's more anger amongst the rhetoric across the country right now. I think Helen is a testament, you don't have to be an aggressive politician, you can be a compassionate one and love people and really want to work hard to make this country a better place, so I don't know, you can you can think of all the options of what you could do other than politics but that means that the bad people win right. You can't let the bad people win.

Laura Jayes:
Well said Melissa, stay safe today and every day, thanks so much for your time.

Melissa McIntosh:
Thanks Laura.