Allow much bigger super withdrawals for first-home buyers, Andrew Bragg's inquiry urges
The interim report is a good sign of where the opposition will take its housing policies heading into the next election.
Australians would be able to withdraw significantly more than $50,000 of their superannuation to buy their first home under an expansion of the Coalition's housing policy developed by a parliamentary inquiry led by the opposition's spokesman for home ownership Andrew Bragg.
Under the Super Home Buyer scheme proposed by former prime minister Scott Morrison during the 2022 election campaign, first-home buyers would be able to use up to 40% of their super, up to $50,000, towards buying a home. The policy has since been adopted by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, but there has been an internal debate in the Coalition about expanding it.
An interim report into Australia's retirement system by the Senate Economics References Committee, chaired by Bragg, has now called for the withdrawal cap to be lifted to either $100,000 or $150,000, or to have no withdrawal cap at all.
While the policies aren’t yet officially part of the Coalition’s platform for the next election, it is a sign that Dutton will adopt a more ambitious super housing policy in the coming months.
