Sky News with Jamiee Rogers - 12 April 2026

Melissa McIntosh MP

Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services

Shadow Minister for NDIS

Shadow Minister for Women

Federal Member for Lindsay

12 April 2026

Transcript

The Jaimee Rogers Show

Topics: NDIS

E&EO …

Jaimee Rogers:

I want to go back to the NDIS, because the questions around cost, sustainability and integrity aren't going away. Joining me now is the federal member for Lindsay and opposition NDIS spokesperson, Melissa McIntosh. Melissa, thanks so much for joining me tonight. The government says that it wants to rein in NDIS growth to around that 5% and I wanted to get what your thoughts are, and if you think this is achievable under the current format?

Melissa McIntosh:

Thanks very much for having me on. I just want to at the very beginning, say that a bit of kindness and a bit of sensitivity during this debate doesn't cost anyone anything, and I know that people with disability right across our country right now are feeling a little bit targeted and vulnerable. So, we need to remember that, and when the government keeps putting things on the table like means testing, almost kite flying it out there - Butler did this, and then today, Jim Chalmers has tried to quietly close the door on means testing, that causes anxiety. So yes, the NDIS is a train on a track that is out of control, it is barrelling out of control. Yet the way that we find savings, we have to ensure that people, those most vulnerable people, are at the heart of anything we do. There is this very sort of imbalance between these people and the people that are currently rorting the system, $5 billion a year of rorts, and that's where I think we need to focus. When 94% of providers aren't registered yet they are up close with our most vulnerable - something is not going right, so let's focus on that first and foremost.

Jaimee Rogers:

Yeah, it blows my mind that 94% of providers aren't registered. That just seems to me like something that would just be standard. But I do just want to get your thoughts on the means testing, because, as you said, this has been floated by a few different people throughout the week. What do you think? Would you be supporting something like this or you would like to see other things changed first?

Melissa McIntosh:

I think the means testing has created quite a lot of anxiety amongst people with severe disabilities. You have to have a lot of detail behind means testing, and you need to have a good plan and what that actually means, and the government hasn't said any of that. Does means testing mean a young child is means tested against their parents, income? What happens when that person reaches a certain age, whether it's 15 or 18? What does it actually mean? People have been pouring, you know, into my office over these last few weeks, with their emails and their phone calls saying “both my husband and I have to have to work, we have to have an income, and if we were means test we'll be paying thousands and thousands of dollars to support our severely disabled child - we just couldn't do it”. The NDIS was not set up as a welfare system, it was set up as an insurance scheme. So, if the government does want to go down this track there's a lot of work that needs to be happening behind the scenes to get it right, if it could even be done right - yet they're not telling us anything, and as I said, Mark Butler opened the door on this and Jim Chalmers seems to be trying to quietly close the door. Meanwhile, vulnerable Australians are in high anxiety.

Jaimee Rogers:

Yeah, I must say one thing, during the election last year, I had a woman standing at her door when I door knocked, and she was so distressed that her funding had been slashed. She had a severely disabled child, and I can't help but then think it's families like that that desperately need it. And then, as you mentioned, there's around sort of 10% of NDIS spending is sort of lost between that fraud and misuse, and I just wonder why this hasn't been addressed properly previously and what can the Coalition do to ensure that when you get into government next time, how do we make sure that the really vulnerable families are the ones that are continuing to get the funding and we avoid this issue of the sheer volume of fraud that we've been seeing?

Melissa McIntosh:

Yeah, it blows your mind, doesn't it? I've come into this shadow portfolio a few weeks ago, and I'm like you said, Well, why? Why are these people registered? They're face to face with our most vulnerable Australians. There's no safety, no checks and balances. They don't have a Working With Vulnerable People check, there are no safeguards in place, and that's why people are literally coming off the street and working with these people. And I've heard those stories as well. I've heard a story just last week of a woman who is literally gaffa taping her prosthetic leg on and she cannot get an answer from the NDIS. A gentleman contacted me, he's blind, he can't get the NDIS to put rails on his stairs so he can safely get into his house. So, these vulnerable people are missing out. Their plans are being cut. They're not getting any consultation about those plans cuts, because the government is trying to meet their growth targets. There is this huge amount of fraud or rorting going on, and in addition to that, the government is spending so much money right now going through the Administrative Review Tribunal with cases against participants, and it's something like $60 million a year, and 75% of the time the government loses. So, imagine how much money they're spending right now on lost cases against participants. So already we can work out where some potential savings are happening in the billions of dollars, and I think ensuring that registrations take place across the system would be a top priority.

Jaimee Rogers:

Melissa, just quickly before I let you go, I know that you are always out on the ground within your community. What's the feedback been like throughout this fuel crisis from what you're hearing?

Melissa McIntosh:

It breaks my heart to see how much people are struggling. I was out two days ago, and when I get back from Parliament, I actually like to get a bit of a reality check, and I went to one part of my community, and I felt it on the ground. People going to the shops, yet they were almost not there, they're suffering so much that their engagement with each other, with life, it's like they're down and out, and life's hitting them hard, and the government isn't doing anything to support them. So this, fuel increase, it's gone past a double and a triple whammy. It just keeps coming, and there is no buffer left. There is no buffer left in their in their lives, in their ability to finance their kids after school activities, food on the table, fuel, electricity. So, people are finding it really hard, and I don't think that any of these apparent cost of living measures that the government claims to have made even scratching the surface. And I'd like to see, you know, the Prime Minister, get down on the ground and actually see how things are really happening right across this country right now.

Jaimee Rogers:

Yeah, there's certainly lots of things that he needs to get out and start having a look at Melissa. Thank you so much. I'll leave it there.

Melissa McIntosh:

Thank you.