The Barefoot Investor has warned Australians will be left worse off in retirement if Pauline Hanson‘s proposed changes to superannuation succeed.
One Nation unveiled plans on Monday to allow renters and mortgage holders to take three per cent of their future super as wages for up to three years.
A couple earning a combined $168,000 a year would take home an additional $4,300 a year after tax, or $82 a week, while an individual worker earning $90,500 would pocket about $2,300 extra, or $44 a week, for three years.
Scott Pape said the proposal was fundamentally different from existing rules that allow early access to super only in limited circumstances.
He recounted a conversation with a woman who admitted she withdrew her super during Covid to pay for cosmetic surgery, a decision she now regrets.
‘During Covid I stupidly used my super to get a boob job. I got double F implants, the largest size I could,’ the woman told him.
She later enquired about accessing more of her super for corrective surgery on compassionate grounds, after discovering the procedure would cost $18,000 and would not be covered by Medicare or private health insurance.
Pape said he did not judge her decision, but argued it showed how easy it is to sacrifice long-term retirement savings for short-term spending.
Barefoot Investor Scott Pape (pictured) said One Nation’s policy would hurt Superannuation in the long term
‘Her retirement money was gone, and it was never going to compound again,’ he wrote.
Pape admitted he agreed with Hanson on some aspects of superannuation, including concerns around management fees and government interference.
‘I actually agree with One Nation on a couple of things when it comes to super. The fees we pay are way too high,’ he wrote.
He also argued Australians should maintain control over their superannuation and called on the Prime Minister not to interfere with retirement savings.
‘Anthony Albanese needs to keep his mitts off our super. It is not the government’s money. It’s ours.’
But Pape said letting workers voluntarily reduce their super contributions risks encouraging people to prioritise immediate spending over long-term financial security.
‘This new policy is a different beast. It is not a last-resort rule for people on their knees,’ he wrote.
‘It can feel like a lift at the time. Yet time still marches on, and every dollar you take out now is a dollar that can’t compound.’
Pape admitted he agreed with Pauline Hanson on some aspects of superannuation, including concerns around management fees and government interference
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Pape warned the policy could trigger wider economic consequences if millions of Australians received bigger weekly pay packets.
‘Give people more cash to spend and prices rise, then the Reserve Bank puts up rates and the mortgage gets uglier,’ he wrote.
He also mocked One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce after he was asked about the retirement impacts of the proposal on Monday.
When questioned on ABC 7.30 about the long-term consequences for workers, Joyce replied: ‘I’m the Treasury spokesman, not Jesus Christ.’
Pape said the comment was evidence supporters of the policy hadn’t fully considered the consequences.
‘It seems to me that Barnaby has done less thinking on this than the woman standing at my table,’ he wrote.
The policy has been slammed by the Albanese Government this week, with Jim Chalmers declaring the policy as ‘crazy’ during a speech to the Super Members Council on Wednesday.
‘Every dollar a 25-year-old withdraws now would mean they lose around $3 by the time they retire,’ he said, referencing the Council’s own modelling.
‘They will end super as we know it and millions of workers will be poorer as a consequence.’
