Today Show with Tom Steinfort and Sarah Abo - 30 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

30 June 2026

Transcript

Channel Nine Today Show

Topics: Liberal brand, Penrith NSW police incident

E&OE

Tom Steinfort 

Well, according to Liberal front bencher Melissa McIntosh, it is, and she joins us now live from Canberra to discuss. Melissa, you've caused quite the stir, suggesting the Libs need a bit of a rebrand. Some people will interpret rebrand as leadership change.

Melissa McIntosh 

Thank you. It wasn't my intention. I was out with my community on the weekend, and we're pretty blunt out in Penrith, out in Western Sydney, and I guess I was being a bit blunt when I made that statement. People have said to me that, you know, what's the Liberal Party doing, and they're feeling a lot of pressure, and one of the values of the Liberal Party is equality of opportunity, and I really believe in that, and people in Western Sydney are feeling like they're not getting any opportunity to get ahead, they're getting pushed down by the Government's policies. I thought, well, if things aren't resonating, and if people aren't actually latching onto our policies and believing in that, but they're not wanting to vote for us, then maybe we need to do something about the brand.

Sarah Abo 

And what's wrong with that, right? I mean, if you look at the polls, that would probably suggest that you, Melissa, are right and people like Tony Abbott are wrong. What would you like to see change?

Melissa McIntosh 

As I said, I think we've got some really good values, even the establishment of the Liberal Party, sticking up for small businesses and the individual, and I would like us to be able to get some cut through in our policies. One of the big issues in my patch out in Western Sydney is that immigration levels are just too high and we can't get enough housing, and Angus announced a policy that will match housing and immigration, so we'll only bring people into this country if we've got enough housing, and that actually really resonates with people. So I want us to have more cut-through on our policies. I worked for John Howard back in the day, and my patch, we were the Howard battlers, we're the Menzies forgotten people, and we're Tony's  tradies, so we are pretty much the heartland of Australia, and when the heartland of Australia tells you that you need to get more cut-through to get more voters on your side, then you need to listen to the people.

Tom Steinfort 

Just quickly, speaking of your patch, we saw some disturbing video of police there pushing a homeless man in Sydney's west, and this in Penrith is becoming a bigger issue there. You're calling for an investigation into what's happened here.

Melissa McIntosh 

I am. I think that's fair enough. I want to, on the outset, say thank you to all of our frontline services, and particularly our police, and this is not a dig at our police in any way whatsoever. But when that footage emerged, there was such an outpouring of concern from my community about this particular gentleman who's experiencing homelessness, and when that happens, you have to do something about it. So I did write to the New South Wales Minister for Police to get an answer and to get a review into what occurred, and there's another issue here, and it is around homelessness. I think all of your viewers would see more people experiencing homelessness now more than ever before, and we're getting double income families that are now becoming the working homeless, as opposed to the working poor, and that's a huge concern. So, there's two issues here, a review into that altercation between the police officer and the homeless men, and the issue of homelessness in general. And this is Australia, we should not be having people sleeping rough on our streets, and more concerning than ever is kids sleeping rough. Something needs to be done with a matter of urgency.

Tom Steinfort 

Absolutely. All right, Melissa. Really appreciate your time on the program this morning.

Sarah Abo 

Thanks, Melissa.

Melissa McIntosh 

Thank you.