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🇦🇺 Australia /Elections & Politics

One Nation unveils plan to divert superannuation to boost pay

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources New plan
  • One Nation proposes allowing workers who rent or hold a mortgage to access a quarter of their superannuation contributions to increase their income for up to three years.
  • Labor's Tanya Plibersek warned that participants could be thousands of dollars worse off in retirement, while Barnaby Joyce said people should decide for themselves how to use their money.
  • Communications Minister Anika Wells separately urged Parliament to pass stronger social media age restrictions for children under 16.

One Nation wants Australians who pay rent or a mortgage to divert part of their superannuation into their income for up to three years. The proposal would give eligible workers access to a quarter of their super contribution.

It’s obvious One Nation wants you to raid your super instead of getting a pay increase. We support higher wages and better super when you retire.

· Tanya PlibersekThe Labor politician criticized One Nation's proposal to let workers access part of their superannuation.

Labor's Tanya Plibersek attacked the plan, saying, “It’s obvious One Nation wants you to raid your super instead of getting a pay increase.” She said Labor supported higher wages and better superannuation in retirement, and warned that people who opted into the proposal could be “thousands of dollars worse off in retirement.”

One Nation treasury spokesman Barnaby Joyce defended the idea, arguing that the current process for accessing super early during hardship is “incredibly convoluted.” He said hardship payments, including funds granted for medical treatment or to prevent foreclosure or the forced sale of a home, could be taxed at between 17% and 22%.

incredibly convoluted

· Barnaby JoyceJoyce described the existing process for early access to superannuation during hardship.

Asked whether people should be told that withdrawing super now would reduce their future balance, Joyce said, “People are competent enough to work that out for themselves.” He added, “People aren’t stupid. We give them credit for more brains than the Labor Party does,” and said the proposal was about giving people access to their own money.

People are competent enough to work that out for themselves.

· Barnaby JoyceHe said people could judge the effect of early withdrawals on their retirement savings.

The live blog also covered Communications Minister Anika Wells’s call for Parliament to pass laws strengthening social media age restrictions for under-16s. Labor’s bill would expand the eSafety Commissioner’s information-gathering powers and double maximum penalties for technology companies that breach the minimum-age law. The Coalition and Greens had referred the bill to an eight-week Senate inquiry, which recommended that it pass.

People aren’t stupid. We give them credit for more brains than the Labor Party does.

· Barnaby JoyceJoyce defended allowing workers to decide whether to access their own superannuation.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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