Bragg last week told ABC radio that compulsory super \u201cis one of the biggest public policy failures since federation, in the sense that it hasn\u2019t helped the budget, and it has not really helped many people get off the pension\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hanson made a similar point on News24 at the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people [are] pulling out their superannuation, spending it, then end up on the age pension anyway. I think the whole system is broken,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n The key contention in Bragg\u2019s National Press Club speech last week was that there is virtually no long-term budgetary benefit from compulsory super \u2013 so what\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n Bragg published a chart<\/a> from Treasury\u2019s 2023 intergenerational report (IGR) which shows spending on the age pension \u201chas been reasonably stable at just over 2% as a share of GDP over the past 26 years\u201d and that \u201cit will remain at 2% by 2063\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMeanwhile, superannuation tax concessions as a share of GDP are projected to overtake age pension spending in the 2040s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n That sounds like scrapping super would actually make the budget more sustainable over the long term.<\/p>\n But what Bragg is not saying is that maintaining a steady total spending on retirement is actually a major achievement in the context of rapidly ageing populations here and overseas.<\/p>\n age<\/a><\/p>\n As Treasury says in its IGR (our emphasis): \u201cThe total projected annual cost of Australia\u2019s retirement income system is expected to remain relatively steady over the next 40 years, at around 4 to 4.5% of GDP, despite population ageing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe rise in total projected costs of tax concessions is driven by earnings tax concessions from the increased stock of funds, offset by a fall in projected spending on the age pension,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n And in direct contradiction to Hanson and Bragg\u2019s assertions, the IGR predicts that a rising share of people will have enough money to retire without leaning on the age pension.<\/p>\n The share of people fully funding their own retirement income is predicted to rise from 29% to 38% by 2050, and continue to rise from there.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2998.jpg\")
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