Key facts
- Andrew Bragg suggested using retirement savings as collateral or for mortgage payments to help first-home buyers.
- Angus Taylor stated that Bragg's proposal is not Coalition policy.
- Richard Marles called the compulsory super system "profoundly important" for retirement security.
- Peter Tulip suggested using super as collateral is preferable to taxpayer-funded schemes like the first home guarantee.
- Matthew Bowes noted that low-income young Australians, who struggle most to buy homes, have less superannuation.
Angus Taylor has distanced the Coalition from a proposal by shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg that would allow first-home buyers to use their superannuation savings as collateral for a loan or to pay off a mortgage. Bragg suggested "a range of ways" retirement savings could aid home ownership, including keeping the money in the system as collateral or an offset.
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles criticized the idea, calling it a "wholesale attack" on the compulsory super system, which he described as "profoundly important" for Australians' retirement security. This comes as an intergenerational report highlighted challenges in funding an aging population.
Peter Tulip, chief economist at the Centre for Independent Studies, viewed using super as collateral as a better approach than taxpayer-funded schemes like the first home guarantee, arguing it would reduce reckless borrowing. However, he qualified his support, stating that in the current market, such policies would likely increase prices and worsen affordability due to high demand outstripping supply.
Matthew Bowes, a senior associate at the Grattan Institute, questioned the policy's effectiveness for those most struggling to buy homes, noting that young Australians on low incomes, who face the greatest decline in home ownership, typically have less substantial superannuation savings. Bragg later clarified that these ideas are not official policy but are options worthy of debate.