Renters and mortgage holders would be able to access a quarter of their compulsory superannuation contributions for up to three years under a new One Nation policy that Treasurer Jim Chalmers has described as a full-frontal attack on retirement savings.
The policy – dubbed a “super pay boost” — would provide the median worker an additional $2300 a year, according to data published by One Nation, with funds taxed at the concessional superannuation rate of 15 per cent.
Addressing a press conference in Sydney on Monday morning, One Nation treasury spokesman Barnaby Joyce said it was important to keep people in their home during a cost-of-living crisis.
“What we are doing here is giving people back some of their own money from the future, not taking it out of their current balance,” he said.
“If you lose your house, [speaking] as an accountant, you’re going to be vastly worse-off than the benefit you’ll get from that margin of investment over the longer term. I just can’t see why the government’s got a problem with this.”
The announcement is the latest in a series of policies put forward by One Nation since its meteoric rise in the polls and a professionalisation of its internal systems. Last month the party announced a legally questionable plan to bar foreign fighters from entering the country, and has also proposed a 75 per cent cut to the tobacco excise.
Employers must currently pay 12 per cent of their employees’ gross earnings into a superannuation account of the worker’s choosing. The Albanese government legislated for payments to be processed on each pay cycle to improve compounding interest. Previously, payments were required on a quarterly basis.
One Nation’s foray into superannuation, typically a key differentiator between Coalition and Labor policy, has been labelled nothing more than a “headline” by deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume, who called for more detail.
“It hasn’t really been explained. Does the tax status of your superannuation, your discounted tax status, does that remain? Do you get a tax discount for paying your rent?” Hume asked on ABC television on Monday morning.
“One Nation does have a habit of putting out a headline and putting out no details … I think that Australians should have the right to know exactly what this policy would mean for them.”
Hanson has published a two-page explainer on her social media which includes details of the tax implications and mechanisms of the policy.
Speaking to journalists at Parliament House in Canberra, Chalmers said the policy would make the next election a “referendum on super”, as he accused One Nation of recklessly meddling with Australians’ retirement savings.
“One Nation is proposing a full-frontal attack on superannuation,” he said. “This is not about the usual early access provisions. This is about One Nation not supporting super because they don’t support Australian workers.”
Chalmers said One Nation’s policy was a “recipe to make Australian workers tens of thousands of dollars worse off in retirement”, and argued that compound interest losses would negatively outweigh the short-term financial benefit of the new policy.
“They don’t support better wages for workers, and they don’t support decent superannuation and retirement incomes for workers – they’ve made that really clear – and that’s because every time they come here, they don’t vote the way that Australian workers need them to. They vote the way that Gina Rinehart tells them to,” Chalmers said.
In a separate appearance on ABC radio, Health Minister Mark Butler called the policy a “terrible plan”, and argued it had already been tested to detrimental effect under the Morrison government’s COVID superannuation access scheme.
“Occupational superannuation is one of the great reforms of our country over the last few decades. It will provide security in retirement to millions and millions of Australians who otherwise would not have it,” Butler said.
During the COVID pandemic, the then-Coalition government allowed individuals facing financial hardship to access up to $20,000 in superannuation. About 2.6 million Australians accessed the scheme, removing around $40 billion from the system.
The policy has been blamed for artificially inflating house prices, with those accessing the scheme calculated to be around $120,000 worse off at retirement age. Studies found people who accessed the scheme used the money for gambling.
In a later media appearance, Joyce said the policy would have an “undetectable” impact on inflation.
In this masthead’s most recent Resolve Political Monitor, One Nation returned to second place in the polls, garnering 26 per cent of the primary vote. Labor has 28 per cent, with the Coalition in third at 23 per cent.
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Nick Newling is a federal politics reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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