McIntosh had joined the
Liberal Party in 1982, and had been active in local branches. In 1999 he was preselected as the Liberal candidate for
Kew, a safe seat being vacated by sitting member
Jan Wade. He was duly elected, and was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary from Infrastructure in 2001. In 2002 he became Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations and Shadow Attorney-General. In 2006, McIntosh was moved to the portfolios of Police and Emergency Services, Corrections, and Manager of Opposition Business. According to a
Sunday Herald Sun investigation, McIntosh achieved little voter recognition as a frontbencher. Six months out from the
2010 state election, not one of 50 voters surveyed could identify him as the Shadow
Minister for Corrections. McIntosh claimed that assaults in Victoria had doubled since 1999, and was instrumental in developing a Coalition policy advocating the abolition of
suspended sentences, a policy which was later mirrored by the Labor government. He helped formulate
Coalition policy proposing 1600 extra police, which was also adopted by the government. He advocated greater freedom of information and transparency under the
Brumby government. In 2006, after a notebook was pushed under his office door belonging to an advisor to the Premier, referring to an "index search" on Liberal leader
Ted Baillieu's wife and three children, McIntosh alleged that a dirt unit existed inside the Department of Premier and Cabinet. With the election of the
Baillieu government in 2010, McIntosh was made
Minister for Corrections, Minister for Crime Prevention and Minister responsible for the establishment of an anti-corruption commission. In the
Napthine Ministry in 2013, McIntosh also took the portfolio of
Gaming Regulation, and the anti-corruption commission title became "Minister responsible for IBAC". On 16 April 2013, McInstosh resigned all of his ministerial positions with immediate effect, after admitting that he had leaked confidential information from the parliamentary Privileges Committee to a journalist. ==References==