Dipping into retirement funds to cover household cost-of-living pressures has been touted by One Nation as Labor faces grim polling over its immigration approach.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson reignited the debate surrounding superannuation when she labelled the scheme “broken” on Sunday.

She called for a relaxation of rules that would allow people to withdraw their retirement savings in times of crisis to help with the cost of living.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said the party was still working out the detail of the policy, but said superannuation funds should be available to people if they were at risk of becoming homeless.

“There are people living in their cars who’ve got a job,” he told reporters on Monday.

“You can say, ‘I’m going to get access to this because it’s my money’.”

Superannuation can already be accessed early for a variety of reasons, including to stop the foreclosure or forced sale of a home.

Only the sum of repayments for one quarter and mortgage interest for one year can be withdrawn from a super account in a 12-month period.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Liberals and One Nation had put the future of compulsory super at doubt but the government would defend it against them.

“Their policy and their ideology on super would absolutely decimate the economic security and retirement incomes of millions of Australian workers,” he said.

Deputy opposition leader Jane Hume said maintaining the nation’s superannuation system was important.

“We also know that the biggest indicator of economic security in retirement isn’t how much superannuation you have, it’s whether you own a home,” she told News24.

“That’s why it’s so important that we allow Australians the opportunity to get into a home should they want to buy one.”

The coalition took policies of allowing first home buyers to access their superannuation to help fund a deposit to the previous two elections.

But senior party figures have criticised the compulsory retirement savings scheme, including frontbencher Andrew Bragg, who described it as “one of the biggest public policy failures since federation”.

The brawl over superannuation erupted as the major parties attempt to strike a deal on several key pieces of legislation, including cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme and gambling rules.

Labor has also been working on its migration policy, which was due to be outlined in a National Press Club address by Immigration Minister Tony Burke earlier in August.

The appearance was cancelled at the last minute due to policy concerns that erupted during a party caucus meeting.

The latest Resolve Political Monitor, published in Nine newspapers, showed a clear majority of respondents believed the government was managing migration policy in an “unplanned way”.

It also found 60 per cent of respondents were in favour of lower house prices following Labor’s contentious changes to investor tax concessions.

Asked about the polling, Chalmers said substantial housing issues had driven the government to take “politically difficult steps” to address those challenges.

–AAP