The Liberals, Nationals and One Nation are at it again – promising to tear down good, enduring policies for the Australian people for the base political purpose of getting their bums on the better seats in the Parliament.

This time, it’s their promises to dismantle Labor’s superannuation system for workers.

Among the most striking features of the Intergenerational Report released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Monday is the accelerating rate at which the Australian population is ageing.

Yet, true to form, the Coalition and One Nation want to destroy the very policy that should ensure all Australians could enjoy a comfortable retirement – compulsory superannuation.

Australian couples, like those in most advanced nations, are having fewer children. One reason is that owing to the relatively high living standards they enjoy, parents do not need large families to look after them in their retirement years.

Meanwhile, marvellous medical innovations and healthier lifestyles are enabling Australians to have among the longest life expectancies in the world, projected by the mid-2060s to be an average of almost 90 years for women and 86 years for men.

Before compulsory superannuation was introduced, most Australians relied on the age pension for their retirement incomes, with only 40 per cent or so of workers covered by super.

Back then, super was primarily a perk for public servants, managers and male white-collar workers.

Nowadays, around two-thirds of Australia’s population, including more than 80 per cent of adults, is covered.

It is fair to say that Australia’s system of compulsory superannuation is the envy of the world – but not of the Liberals and One Nation.

Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg has been a long-term critic of compulsory superannuation, arguing in his first speech to the Senate in 2019 that super should not be compulsory for low-income earners.

And in August, Bragg called compulsory super a “strange but huge illiberal experiment”, describing it as “one of the biggest public policy failures since Federation”.

On Tuesday, Bragg floated the idea of letting people use their super for housing, either as loan collateral or by withdrawing a lump sum for a deposit or mortgage. Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson described these ideas as “a welcome part of the conversation”.

Not to be outdone, One Nation announced in early September that it would allow some workers to take 3 percentage points of their compulsory contributions as extra take-home pay for up to three years.

The diverted money would be taxed at the concessional 15 per cent rate for superannuation, not at income tax rates.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has described the superannuation system as “broken”, adding: “You should give them their money now and … help them with the cost of living”.

Compulsory superannuation is designed to set working people up for a comfortable retirement.

For political and ideological reasons, the Coalition and One Nation want to tear it down, knowing their leaders won’t be around when Australians struggle to make ends meet in their retirement years.

Since the introduction of compulsory super, almost every employee now has retirement savings, not just high-income earners but also the low paid, women and casuals.

Early-access schemes, as proposed by the Coalition and One Nation, cost young workers enormous sums by the time of their retirement.

Good for Coalition and One Nation politicians, bad for working people.

Craig Emerson is an economist, minister for trade in the previous Labor government and an economic adviser to prime minister Bob Hawke