People take the money and run: The pitfalls of early super access

September 13, 2026 — 3:00am

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This week, One Nation announced a proposed policy that it says will ease the cost-of-living pressures not by building more affordable housing for first home buyers, making childcare cheaper, adding dental to Medicare or tackling other economic pressures affecting working families’ hip pockets. Rather, they will allow people to access a portion of their retirement savings in real time.

“People are working hard and still struggling to get ahead,” One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said in a press release announcing the proposal. “Interest rates keep rising. Rents keep climbing. Groceries, power bills, petrol and insurance are taking more and more out of the family budget.

“The cost of living is forcing people out of their rental accommodation. People living it rough in their cars, couch-surfing, don’t have homes, living in tents … and I believe that these people need a helping hand now.”

Under their proposal, Hanson and One Nation treasury spokesperson Barnaby Joyce say working Australians would be able to access up to 3 per cent of their 12 per cent superannuation contributions for a period of three years to give people some financial “breathing room”. For a full-time worker on an average wage, this would equate to about $44 a week or $2288 over a year, and just under $7000 over three years.

Though Joyce initially said people would need to make applications to their superannuation funds claiming support to make rent and mortgage payments, in the days since, he and Hanson have struggled to articulate what checks and........

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