With the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) contacting people who have pre-registered for access to $10,000 hardship early release superannuation, the Government is estimating that between 1.6 million and 1.7 million will apply over the two tranches of the exercise.
That is the expectation of the Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology, Senator Jane Hume who said the current first tranche would end on 30 June with the next tranche opening on 1 July to end 24 September.
And amid warnings from Industry Super Australia (ISA) that polling suggested up to 40% of applicants for early release might be ineligible because they had not actually been adversely affected, Hume accused the industry funds group of “push-polling”.
ISA retained polling firm UMR with the result showing that one million people who had not been financially impacted by the Coronavirus shutdowns were intending to access their super early, something which Hume described as “tawdry attempt to undermine confidence in the early release of super mechanisms”.
However, she conceded in a national radio interview that people needed to take the decision about early access seriously.
“Of course, there’s going to be a trade-off between taking money out of superannuation now and keeping it in and locking it up for their retirement savings in the future,” she said while claiming that there “are some pretty wild numbers floating around about what taking $10,000 today means for you”.
“We would suggest that people either talk to a trusted financial adviser if they’re confused or a registered tax agent or there’s also a very handy calculator on the Money Smart – ASIC’s Money Smart website that will tell you exactly what taking out money from superannuation means for you,” Hume said.
