Why peak super says One Nation's proposed super pay boost is a "scam" | The Business | ABC NEWS

One Nation is proposing a radical change to the superannuation system that would allow Australians who rent or pay a mortgage to divert a portion of their super payments as salary for up to three years.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says the change will give Australians who opt in "breathing room" to deal with the cost-of-living crisis.
Under the proposal, Australians who pay rent or a mortgage would be given a choice to divert a portion of their superannuation to their take-home pay for up to three years.
The full 12 per cent compulsory super contribution would still be paid by employers, but three per cent would be paid directly to the person by the super fund if they opted in.
The payments would also remain subject to the concessional tax rate of 15 per cent, rather than the higher personal income tax rate.
But the peak body for Australia's $4.3 trillion superannuation industry, the chief executive of the Association of Superannuation Funds Australia, Mary Delahunty said "I think most Australians understand the scam here. They understand that if they take it out now, what's going to happen to them in their retirement.
"So we think that even though it comes up from time to time as we get closer to elections, that Australians look at it rightfully, with a bit of a squint and they say, can't you think of something else? Can't you think of a different way to fix this than asking me to rob from my future self?"
And Mary Delahunty says there will also be consequences for the economy.
"This is apparently about rent and mortgages but once the money leaves the super system we've no way of confining it to rent and mortgages and so it becomes inflationary.
"Now inflation adds pressure to interest rates which adds pressure to the housing, to the cost of mortgages. And so I think Australians get that."
As for how much it might help Australian renters or mortgage borrowers who might choose to access the One Nation proposal, Mary Delanhunty said "we've had a look at what it means for people and we know that you can get about a few months rent or a mortgage payment, maybe two covered if you take out a little bit now.
"But it will rob from you in retirement to the tune of somewhere between 16 conservatively $18,000 in today's money ... That means that every taxpayer has to make that up somehow in the age pension.
"We know that Australia has the lowest, one of the lowest costs of the public age pension across the OECD nations and these sort of policies put that in peril."
And Mary Delahunty says One Nation should not ask the superannuation sector to assess which superannuation members are eligible for early access to their funds.
" As the day's gone on, we've seen some more detail come out about what this proposal actually looks like and at a press conference today it seems the One Nation leader is suggesting that superannuation funds would be the arbiters of whether or not someone should receive early access to their superannuation.
"This sort of administrative burden and cost shouldn't be put onto the superannuation sector. We also are unclear about how that would be judged.
There seems to be like a lack of detail for us to properly assess that.
"And it's alarming in that it is somehow going to be quarantined to rent and mortgage payments when none of us know really what happens to cash once it leaves the super sector."
When asked whether One Nation consulted the super industry before announcing this proposal, Mary Delahunty answered no.
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