Sky News Interview with Kieran Gilbert - 7 April 2026

Melissa McIntosh MP

Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services

Shadow Minister for NDIS

Shadow Minister for Women

Federal Member for Lindsay

07.04.2026

Transcript

Sky News with Kieran Gilbert

Topics: NDIS

E&EO …

Kieran Gilbert

There's been a lot of focus on the Middle East and the flow and effect to oil prices and so on, but also, we should consider the budget bottom line and the discussion recently has been about expenditure, particularly when it comes to welfare programs like the NDIS. Let's bring in Melissa McIntosh, she's the Shadow Minister for the NDIS. Melissa, thanks for your time. Do you welcome the fact that there is a renewed push to find savings to rein in the growth of the NDIS?

Melissa McIntosh

Certainly, the NDIS is barrelling out of control, but we've got to remember at the heart of this are vulnerable Australians. But at the core now it seems to be going rotten, and this is where we get to the fraudulent activity that is going on in the NDIS and we know that is growing as well and it's costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year. One of the areas that concerns me most is that 94%, I think your viewers will be pretty alarmed about this, 94% of providers under the NDIS are not registered, they are just freeloading, they are doing whatever they want, they don't even have to have any bare minimum standards in the vulnerable people they are looking after. So, there are multiple aspects of this. I really respect Mike Freelander for the work he does in health and he understands this but it's really quite unusual for two Labor backbenchers to be coming out and having their own say about the NDIS. But yes, the spending is way out of control. It's going to the wrong people, and it is time, and I think there is sentiment within the Australian public for something to be done about it.

Kieran Gilbert

Yeah, the two independent or the two, I shouldn't say independent, but Labor MPs speaking independently, I guess, of government policy, they're both physicians. Freelander, that you mentioned, also Michelle Ananda-Rajah, a Labor Senator, both of them saying there needs to be significant reform. Can growth in the NDIS be reduced to lower than 5% as the government hopes?

Melissa McIntosh

But this is the whole point, and I think this is why questioning the backbenchers coming out, what is the Government's plan to reduce this growth? I'm hearing I have, you know, Western Sydney, so many NDIS cases coming through my door and the really concerning ones are the ones that people with severe disability are just getting their plans cut and there's been no consultation.

So, on one hand you've got plans cut for the very reason this scheme was set up in the first place and on the other hand, you've got mass rorting going on in the system. So, what is the government's plan to rein in the spending without having major impacts on people with severe disabilities that we should be looking after and reducing the rorting? And how can the Coalition help with that? I'm very willing, and I know my colleagues are too, in a reasonable way to do this in collaboration with the government, because we do need protecting Australians, but we do need to be reigning in spending and right now this train is way out of control and it's way off track.

Kieran Gilbert

Do you believe that, just going back to what you touched on earlier, that the registration component, from what we're hearing, the government is going to announce significant reforms to make it mandatory for the providers of supported independent living, that they will all have to be registered. That sounds like a good start to me.

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, it seems very logical. When I came into this portfolio a few weeks ago now, I did know a bit about the NDIS because of the cases coming in. I was quite shocked to think people are living in housing and being looked after and these are people that are most vulnerable and there's no registration in accommodation. So, yes, that needs to be done as a matter of urgency. But more than that, anyone that has direct close contact with somebody on the NDIS that has a disability, they should be registered too. There are no checks and balances, anyone can be looking after someone with a disability right now, and we know there's rorting going on when it comes to overcharging for services like cleaning or gardening, when somebody finds out that you're on the NDIS. But more than that, there's the human element and we're hearing that there's criminality within this and people that aren't being looked after and are being abused, and that really matters to. The whole system does need an overhaul, and it needs to be both about the budget and I hope the government isn't doing this to stitch up their budget that's out of control, and there is also the human element and fixing up the NDIS for those people who do need it most.

Kieran Gilbert

That's what it was designed for. Melissa McIntosh, thanks as always. We'll see you soon.

Melissa McIntosh

Yeah, thanks, Kieran.