Coalition weighing options to use super to boost home ownership

The Coalition has entered the political fray over super, re-litigating the argument that the retirement savings scheme should be used to help people buy a home — but has stopped short of announcing any policies.

Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg will give a speech later today where he is expected to float ideas about how super could be used to boost home ownership ahead of retirement.

"We don't want to become a nation where renting in retirement becomes mandatory," Senator Bragg told ABC News Radio on Tuesday.

"We want to have a country where people can live in their own house … if their superannuation can help them do that, then we should look at that."

Senator Bragg said multiple options had been canvassed by the Coalition, including using super as collateral for a loan, or withdrawing a lump sum for a house deposit.

But he said he was not advocating for any particular solutions for now, ahead of a speech he will give at the Financial Services Council later today.

"You could keep the money in the system and it could operate as a collateral or an offset," he told ABC News Radio.

"You could take it out to pay off a mortgage or to pull together a first home loan."

While stressing that the Coalition had not settled on its formal policy, Senator Bragg insisted there was a need to look at different ways super could be used to help people buy their first home.

"I think most people would want their well-paid politicians to be pushing out the boat on some ideas that might be able to help them achieve their goal of home ownership," he said.

The Coalition's policy at the last two elections was to allow people to withdraw $50,000 from their super to put towards a house deposit.

Senator Bragg did not say if the opposition would keep that policy, but admitted a "credible critique" was that it was more likely for people in their mid to late 30s who would have accrued that amount, and therefore the policy would not have significantly helped younger people.

Superannuation has become a political flashpoint in recent weeks, with One Nation releasing a policy that would allow people to divert funds from their super to be able to pay their rent or mortgage.

That policy would permit people to keep 3 per cent of their salary that would otherwise go to super for a three year period — which would be $2,300 per year (or $44 per week) for a person on a $90,500 salary.

Some critics have said the measure could be inflationary in the short term and would impact the compound-interest growth of super savings in the long term.

Labor slammed the One Nation policy and has declared the next election will be a "referendum" on superannuation — a key creation of the Labor Keating government in the 1990s.

Under the government's first home super saver scheme, people can make voluntary contributions to their super, allow it to accrue interest, and later withdraw up to $50,000 of that money as part of a home deposit.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Coalition and One Nation were "coming after super" and they wanted to "vandalise" the retirement savings scheme.

"They hate super. They always have and they always will," Mr Chalmers told ABC Radio National on Tuesday.

"That would be devastating for people's retirement incomes. It would make people worse off.

"Superannuation is for retirement."

Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson would not comment on whether Shadow Cabinet had seen a proposal of Senator Bragg's ideas.

But he said those ideas were "a welcome part of the conversation" amid an increase of people reaching retirement without owning their home.

"The biggest leading indicator of poverty in retirement is people don't own their own home," he said.

"This is why home ownership is so important, and we need it to take precedence as the primary economic interest for retirement and during your working life."

Mr Wilson said housing was a key component in forecasted falling fertility rates signalled in yesterday's Intergenerational Report.

"The reality is, with the cost of housing continuing to rise, there's a direct correlation between that and, of course, family formation," he said.

"Part of the challenge is the government and the Labor Party continue to prioritise superannuation over home ownership, which means people are buying later and at higher price, which means that Australian families are being kneecapped from the start."

Senator Bragg will argue in his speech that in retirement, Australian's are best served by owning a residence as a top priority, and secondly owning financial assets to draw an income or replace the pension in their old age.

He said 12 per cent of Australians' income is going towards providing or overproviding for the latter.

"If Australians can reorient some of their super savings early in life (for example, a loan from super for residence), they can optimise their objectives," he will say.