Barefoot Investor blasts Pauline Hanson’s push for early access to super

Barefoot Investor Scott Pape has cautioned that Australians could enter retirement with less money if Pauline Hanson’s proposed superannuation changes are introduced.

One Nation on Monday announced a policy that would let renters and people with mortgages receive up to three per cent of their future super contributions as part of their wages for as long as three years.

Under the proposal, a couple on a combined annual income of $168,000 would receive about $4,300 more after tax each year, equivalent to $82 a week. A worker earning $90,500 would gain roughly $2,300 annually, or $44 a week, over the same three-year period.

But Pape argued the plan goes far beyond the current system, where early access to super is generally reserved for tightly defined circumstances.

To illustrate his concern, he recalled speaking with a woman who said she had withdrawn super during the Covid pandemic to fund cosmetic surgery — a choice she has since come to regret.

‘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 sought advice on whether she could access further super on compassionate grounds to pay for corrective surgery. The operation was expected to cost $18,000 and was not covered by Medicare or private health insurance.

While Pape said he was not passing judgement on her personal decision, he said the episode highlighted the risk of exchanging long-term retirement savings for immediate expenses.

‘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. 

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‘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 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.’

READ MORE: Pauline Hanson announces radical superannuation plan to let millions of workers turn their super into pay