Sky News with Kieran Gilbert - 9 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

9 June 2026

Transcript

Sky News Newsday

Topics: NDIS Senate inquiry, Labor asking for donations to counter One Nation

E&EO

Kieran Gilbert 

Let's turn our attention now to the NDIS. There's a Senate committee which is beginning three days of hearings today. The Shadow Minister is Melissa McIntosh, she joins us live. Melissa, what do you want out of those Senate hearings which begin today?

Melissa McIntosh 

Thanks, Kieran. And hi from the banks of the Nepean River here in Penrith, it's really good to be home. I fought really hard for an inquiry on behalf of the Coalition. I thought it was important. These are major changes that the government wants to make to the NDIS, which we do support reducing the expenditure. $50 billion a year, but I want to make sure that it's not to the detriment of people with profound disability, the reason why this whole Scheme was set up in the first place. They need to have their say, and these three days will allow participants, advocates, and organisations to appear before a Senate inquiry, and for the Government to answer questions. I am a bit concerned around the lack of attention to fraud in the current legislation. The Albanese Labor Government framed the whole reform of the NDIS around reducing fraud, getting the criminals, the crooks, out of the system. Yet not much is going to happen in that regard, so I just want to make sure that people won't be at the other end of major cuts with nowhere else to go.

Kieran Gilbert 

Given just over a fortnight to make submissions, there were more than 4000 submissions that have been made. Were you surprised by that number in such a short period of time?

Melissa McIntosh 

I felt like we had around 4000 people contacting my office, so no, I'm not surprised, just by the high anxiety. You've got to remember that Mark Butler made this announcement with zero consultation with the disability community, and then decided he would consult after. So, there's around 4000 submissions yes. The website, the departmental website, only has around 400 of those up, and that just shows how much of a scramble this is. It is pretty rushed. They are big changes. The government wants to reduce their growth of the NDIS from over 10% right now right down to 2%, yet they haven't achieved their targets of 8% and 5%, so there's question marks there, but as I said, at the end of the day, we need to make sure that those who need this Scheme, the reason it was set up in the first place, are protected against any major cuts.

Kieran Gilbert 

But the overall initiative is something that you support, isn't it? Because it is currently on an unsustainable trajectory.

Melissa McIntosh 

Yeah, that's correct and I don't think any Australian, I looked at the submissions and there's quite a strong acknowledgement that the NDIS is unsustainable and it needs to be sustainable into the future. $50 billion a year is just too much, but I think that more can be done on the fraud front. I think that's really important. I think more can be done potentially in registrations, ensuring those registrations happen, but at the end of the day, if we're transferring people off the NDIS, where are they going to go right now? The states are still not signing up, and I just don't think cost shifting from one budget to another is necessarily savings, so it's not up to me as the Shadow to get this right, but it is up to me to ensure this is not just a tick and flick exercise, that there is full transparency behind any of the Government's decisions here.

Kieran Gilbert 

Labor is now calling the Labor Party machine for donations for their campaign against One Nation now. Are you surprised by that? Has reality dawned on the Labor Government that this is not just an issue for the Coalition, the surge of One Nation?

Melissa McIntosh 

I think it's probably a bit of a storm in a tea cup. The major parties, or any political party, ask for donations all the time. It's probably not the best time to be asking everyday Australians for money when people are struggling so much right now, and the budget makes it clear that people aren't going to be better off under this government, so the timing is a bit off, but I'm speaking to people here in my community, and everything is pretty positive towards me as a local member, but that's because I'm out on the ground all the time, but people are pretty fed up overall. I think they're pretty cranky with this government, so I'm not surprised that the Labor Party really is asking for some funds.

Kieran Gilbert 

Okay, Melissa McIntosh. Great to chat, as always. Thank you. We'll talk to you soon.