![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788761232_731_8b15705e3aa35052c4ec444c3acea8314ab4e4b4.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Updated September 7, 2026 \u2014 2:23pm,first published September 7, 2026 \u2014 9:02am<\/p>\n
Save<\/p>\n
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n
Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has defended her party\u2019s new policy allowing renters and mortgage holders to dip into their superannuation to make ends meet as she railed against the government and unions for withholding \u201cthe people\u2019s money\u201d.<\/p>\n At a rare Canberra press conference alongside her treasury spokesman Barnaby Joyce, Hanson dismissed claims the policy would be inflationary or discourage employers from offering raises, and clarified that almost two-thirds of workers would be able to access the scheme.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cost of living is forcing people out of their rental accommodation. People living it rough in the cars, couch-surfing, don\u2019t have homes, living in tents, and also those people with the way the economy\u2019s gone because this Labor Party has driven it into the ground, and I believe that these people need a helping hand now,\u201d Hanson said.<\/p>\n The policy, announced on Monday morning, would allow renters and mortgage holders access to a quarter of their future superannuation contributions over the next three years. According to One Nation, a median worker would receive an additional $2300 per year, with the income taxed at the concessional superannuation rate of 15 per cent.<\/p>\n Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor attacked the policy on Monday morning, with Chalmers saying it was setting the scene for the next election to be a \u201creferendum on super\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cOne Nation is proposing a full-frontal attack on superannuation,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not about the usual early access provisions. This is about One Nation not supporting super because they don\u2019t support Australian workers.\u201d<\/p>\n Chalmers said One Nation\u2019s policy was a \u201crecipe to make Australian workers tens of thousands of dollars worse off in retirement\u201d, and argued that compound interest losses would negatively outweigh the short-term financial benefit of the new policy.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t support better wages for workers, and they don\u2019t support decent superannuation and retirement incomes for workers \u2013 they\u2019ve made that really clear \u2013 and that\u2019s because every time they come here, they don\u2019t vote the way that Australian workers need them to. They vote the way that Gina Rinehart tells them to,\u201d Chalmers said.<\/p>\n Hanson promptly called Chalmers \u201chysterical\u201d in a post on social media and blamed him for the state of the economy. \u201cPerhaps if you hadn\u2019t so thoroughly buggered the economy, Jim, they wouldn\u2019t need to [access superannuation],\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Taylor\u2019s criticised the lack of detail in the policy, including its impact on paid parental leave and concessional caps. The Liberal leader offered his support for the superannuation guarantee, and did not forecast a return to the policy the Coalition took to the last election that would allow early access to superannuation for first-home buyers.<\/p>\n Hanson published a two-page explainer<\/a> on her social media which includes details of the tax implications and mechanisms of the policy.<\/p>\n At the press conference, Hanson and Joyce said there would be no threshold of financial difficulty for access to the scheme, meaning all renters and mortgage holders \u2013 approximately two-thirds of the population \u2013 could benefit.<\/p>\n Joyce said he anticipated that \u201coverwhelmingly\u201d people would only access the scheme if they were in financial hardship, and would need to make applications to their superannuation funds claiming support to make rent and mortgage payments. He acknowledged that \u201ca couple\u201d of people may attempt to flout the system.<\/p>\n Related Article During the COVID pandemic, the then-Coalition government allowed people facing financial hardship to access up to $20,000 in superannuation<\/a>. About 2.6 million Australians accessed the scheme, taking out about $40 billion.<\/p>\n The policy has been blamed for artificially inflating house prices, with those accessing the scheme calculated to be about $120,000 worse off at retirement age. Studies found some people who accessed the scheme used the money for gambling<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hanson said One Nation\u2019s policy would have a \u201cneutral\u201d impact on inflation, and rebuffed attacks from the government claiming the move was an attack on superannuation as a broad policy.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the furthest thing from the truth. I\u2019m not intending to shut super down. If anything, if you look at it, superannuation only just about four years ago was at 9 per cent and over four years it has risen to 12 per cent. So we\u2019re not taking anything away,\u201d Hanson said erroneously.<\/p>\n Compulsory superannuation contributions were last at 9 per cent in 2013, rising incrementally to their current rate of 12 per cent. The Albanese government has this year required employers to pay superannuation on every pay cycle, rather than quarterly, to improve compounding interest.<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s press conference was the first time One Nation had formally spoken to journalists at Parliament House since May, an appearance derailed by questions to Senator Malcolm Roberts about his views on the motivation behind the Bondi shooting.<\/p>\n The announcement is the latest in a series of policies put forward by One Nation since its meteoric rise in the polls. Last month, the party announced a legally questionable plan<\/a> to bar foreign fighters from re-entering the country, and has also proposed a 75 per cent cut to the tobacco excise<\/a>.<\/p>\n In this masthead\u2019s most recent Resolve Political Monitor<\/a>, One Nation returned to second place in the polls, garnering 26 per cent of the primary vote. Labor has 28 per cent, with the Coalition at 23 per cent.<\/p>\n The press conference was halted after questions turned to Victorian party leader Warren Pickering\u2019s alleged history of illicit drug use and \u201csexual deviance\u201d, as reported by The Australian.<\/p>\n Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fcc4e43c5c1dd34e3cfbb40e06c5576c397539ce.jpeg\")
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and treasury spokesman Barnaby Joyce holding their Monday press conference in Canberra. Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n![\"One](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788761233_702_fcb3244c75f6e356aae68d226ab69bc22406222a.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Treasurer](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788761233_202_00dcdc211f6ac398dcc390cbdfc6af7204fdb67f.jpeg\")
Treasurer Jim Chalmers lashed One Nation\u2019s policy as anti-worker. Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788761234_258_a5967583dbbad4ad33ae00aded76d766fe4754b1.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788761234_974_8b15705e3aa35052c4ec444c3acea8314ab4e4b4.png\")
Nick Newling<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners