One Nation’s new super ‘pay boost’ plan labelled ‘dangerous’

One Nation’s plan to allow workers to divert part of their superannuation as a 3 per cent pay boost for up to three years has been widely criticised as “dangerous” and a “headline”.

Pauline Hanson said a quarter of future compulsory super contributions, which is 12 per cent of wages, should be available to be paid back to renters and mortgage holders dealing with high-interest rates and inflation.

For a full-time worker earning about $90,500, that would be about $2300 a year or $44 a week back.

Under the current rules, employers must contribute 12 per cent of wages to an eligible worker’s superannuation fund.

That super is compounded, meaning workers who access these funds early could forgo thousands of dollars more in the long term.

The Super Members Council estimated One Nation’s plan would leave the median full-time worker $25,000 poorer.

Hanson said there would be no restriction on who could access their super money and denied that potentially allowing millions of people to take out thousands of dollars would add to the nation’s inflation issue or place pressure on taxpayers through increased pension payments.

“It’s neutral,” she claimed.

“So you won’t pump up inflation with it at all. It will affect 7 million people that will be open to taking their super out. So it won’t be inflationary.”

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said not all seven million people with a super account would access their money.

“They’re not all going to start taking a section of their money out. People who are in stress will start taking some money out, and they mightn’t take all,” he said.

Monday’s policy announcement comes after One Nation floated the idea to relax the super rules to allow Australians early access to their contributions in August, causing furore in Canberra.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said this is why the “anti-worker” One Nation Party posed an “unacceptable and dangerous risk” to millions of workers.

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“This is a recipe to make Australian workers tens of thousands of dollars worse off in retirement, and this is just another example of how the policies of One Nation, the Liberals, and the National Party would make Australians worse off, not better off,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“Let’s be really clear: the next election will be a referendum on super.”

In a social media post, Hanson hit out at Chalmers and accused him of “acting hysterically” to a proposal that would help struggling people pay their rent of mortgage.

Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume told the ABC the policy it was “nothing more than a headline”, while Nationals MP David Littleproud told News24 that allowing more money into the economy would have “unintended consequences” on inflation.

Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia chief executive Mary Delahunty said the policy was “economically disastrous” and would push up inflation and make people poorer in retirement.

“This proposal would not alleviate the cost of living; it would drive the cost of living higher,” she said.

“It is unfair to ask everyday working Australians to sacrifice their retirement savings to fix policy problems they didn’t cause, like inflation and the housing crisis.”

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Meanwhile, an exclusive nine.com.au survey* of nearly 1100 readers found 53 per cent trust the Coalition the most to manage the economy, while 28 per cent trust One Nation and just 19 per cent trust Labor.

A majority, or 67 per cent, also said they would be more likely to vote for One Nation at the next federal election if they were to form a political pact with the Coalition.

Meanwhile, 33 per cent said they would be less likely to vote for One Nation in that scenario.

As an election fight shapes up over super, the latest Resolve poll for the Sydney Morning Herald has found Labor ahead in the primary vote with 28 per cent and One Nation at 26 per cent and the Coalition at 23 per cent.

*The nine.com.au poll, which runs once a fortnight, canvases the views of the Nine audience on Idea Xchange, which is an online community of our readers and viewers. Learn more and sign up here.