{"id":857987,"date":"2026-08-17T03:08:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T03:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857987\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T03:08:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T03:08:22","slug":"compulsory-superannuation-debate-jim-chalmers-warns-against-coalition-one-nation-plans-to-allow-early-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857987\/","title":{"rendered":"Compulsory superannuation debate: Jim Chalmers warns against Coalition, One Nation plans to allow early access"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Brittany<\/p>\n

August 17, 2026 \u2014 11:19am<\/p>\n

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers has thrown down the gauntlet over compulsory superannuation, vowing to defend the scheme after One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said she wanted more Australians to be able to dip into their retirement savings early<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The $4.5 trillion sector \u2013 twice the size of the economy \u2013 is the largest source of private cash savings in Australia and is designed to alleviate pressure on the federal budget by enabling Australians to support themselves in retirement.<\/p>\n

\"PaulinePauline Hanson waded into the debate on Sunday after Andrew Bragg declared compulsory super a failed policy.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg provoked the compulsory super stoush last week by declaring it \u201cone of the biggest public policy failures since federation\u201d and likening super for teens to super for cats and dogs.<\/p>\n

Chalmers sounded the alarm on Monday, framing the debate as existential to Australians\u2019 economic security and accusing his political opponents of seeking to destroy the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stakes are high at the next election for a whole range of reasons, and one of them now is the future of Australia\u2019s world-leading compulsory superannuation system,\u201d Chalmers said as he arrived at Parliament House.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Is<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Liberals, the Nationals, and One Nation would end compulsory superannuation as we know it. Their policy and their ideology on super would absolutely decimate the economic security and retirement incomes of millions of Australian workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey share a dangerous and divisive anti-worker, anti-super ideology, and if this plays out after the next election, Australian workers will be much worse off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chalmers said the existing allowances for Australians to withdraw their super early were well considered and available for people in genuine hardship.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor good reason, those arrangements are limited, and those arrangements are very focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberal deputy Jane Hume accused the treasurer of \u201csimply making things up\u201d, saying her party would not touch the super guarantee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the treasurer has taken a leaf out of the Mad Men Don Draper book; if you don\u2019t like what they\u2019re saying about you, change the conversation. Can I make it very clear: the super guarantee is here to stay,\u201d she told reporters in Canberra.<\/p>\n

Hume said the Coalition would consider adopting an early access policy as it had in the past two election cycles, but tried to steer the focus onto housing policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest indicator of economic security in retirement isn\u2019t how much superannuation you have; it\u2019s whether you own a home. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important that we allow Australians the opportunity to get into a home should they want to buy one. And to do that, we must increase supply,\u201d she later told News24.<\/p>\n

Hanson joined the fray on Sunday, arguing super \u201cshould be lightened up a bit\u201d so Australians can withdraw money in times of crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some ways, I feel that you should give them their money now and … help them with the cost of living. It is their money. They\u2019ve sacrificed it in lieu of pay, so in a lot of cases people want it,\u201d Hanson told News24.<\/p>\n

Compulsory superannuation contributions are paid as part of an employee\u2019s salary. However, Hanson suggested that people spent their super and still ended up on the aged pension.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the whole system is broken,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"There<\/a><\/p>\n

Hanson was forced to clarify her position in a post on social media, saying she was not calling for an end to compulsory super but that Australians \u201cshould be able to access their money more easily if they need it for a house, medical needs or other costs\u201d.<\/p>\n

One Nation treasury spokesman, Barnaby Joyce, said on Monday the existing exemptions allowing early access to retirement savings were not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re saying is, rather than lose your house, how about you get access to the capacity to keep it, as it\u2019s one of [your] most fundamental assets? There are a lot of people struggling with the cost of living,\u201d Joyce told News24.<\/p>\n

Asked where the line would be drawn for what constituted a crisis, Joyce said One Nation was still developing its policy.<\/p>\n

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie pointed out around 60,000 Australians facing financial hardship already withdrew from their super each year, but said it should not come to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be having to access your retirement savings to get through the normal financial issues of a week,\u201d she told News24. <\/p>\n

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"BrittanyBrittany Busch<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 17, 2026 \u2014 11:19am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":["post-857987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}