Workers would be able to divert a portion of their superannuation to help pay for their rent or mortgage under a One Nation proposal.

Under the policy, people would be able to funnel a quarter of their super to their take home pay for three years.

Employers would still be required to pay 12 per cent superannuation, but super funds would then pay 3 per cent to people participating.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said people should have the choice for how their superannuation is used.

“That’s a real boost to help you pay the rent or the mortgage, leaving more room for groceries, power bills and the costs of raising a family,” she said.

“Your existing super won’t be touched. Not one dollar.”

Currently, superannuation can be accessed before retirement only for compassionate reasons, such as for medical treatment, accommodating a disability, palliative care, funeral costs or to prevent a house being foreclosed.

Tax office figures show 67,900 early super releases were approved in 2024/25, amounting to just over $1.4 billion.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said a growing number of people accessing super early was evidence people needed the financial boost. He denied people wouldn’t consider how the policy would affect them financially in the future.

“People are competent enough to work that out for themselves, and if people make that decision, people aren’t stupid,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program.

“[Super] ain’t no national asset. It’s your own money.”

In August, One Nation called for rules around accessing super in times of crisis to be relaxed to help with the cost of living, calling the current system broken.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the policy would make workers poorer as a result.

“It will cut your super. This means less money and less economic security for millions of Australian workers. This will end superannuation as we know it,” he said in Canberra.

“This is exactly why One Nation poses an unacceptable and dangerous risk to Australian workers.

“Every time [One Nation MPs come to parliament], they don’t vote the way that Australian workers need them to. They vote the way that Gina Rinehart tells them to.”

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek labelled the One Nation proposal as a bid to “raid” super.

“We want people to retire with dignity. One Nation has opposed same jobs, same pay,” she told Sunrise.

“Pauline Hanson’s been out there saying Australian workers are lazy and they should be easier to sack, and they haven’t backed those increases to the minimum wage.”

-AAP