SuperGuide news for September 2026

One Nation proposes diverting 3% of super into pay

One Nation has proposed letting Australians who pay rent or a mortgage take part of their super as wages for up to three years.

Compulsory super can currently be released before retirement only in narrow, tightly defined circumstances. This would create a new one, taken up by choice rather than granted on hardship grounds, and both the government and the super sector came out against it within a day.

Under the proposal, announced on 7 September, employers would keep paying the full 12% superannuation guarantee (SG), but funds would pass 3% of it on to members who opt in, as take-home pay. That is a quarter of your compulsory contributions landing in your pay packet instead of staying in your balance. One Nation says the money would be taxed at the concessional super rate of 15% rather than at your income tax rate.

Its own examples put the gain at about $2,300 a year, or $44 a week, for a full-time worker earning $90,500. For a couple earning $168,000 between them, it puts the figure at about $4,300 a year.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said the change would give people breathing room on cost-of-living pressures. “Your existing super won’t be touched. Not one dollar,” she said.

The policy is not law and is not before Parliament. One Nation Treasury spokesperson Barnaby Joyce has been questioned about its inflationary effect and has said people are capable of working out the trade-off for themselves.

The Super Members Council has modelled the other side of the ledger, using the same salary. A 30-year-old full-time worker on $90,500 who diverts 3% for three years would retire about $25,000 poorer, it found, and a couple doing the same more than $50,000 worse off. If the arrangement were ever made permanent, the council estimates it would strip up to $132,000 from an average worker by retirement, because it would effectively unwind the rise in the SG rate from 9% to 12% over the past decade.

“Turning super into an ATM is a reckless idea,” said Super Members Council chief executive Misha Schubert, who pointed to the COVID early release scheme as the precedent. Almost $38 billion came out of super under that scheme, mostly drawn by younger Australians, according to the council.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers called the policy “a recipe to make Australian workers tens of thousands of dollars worse off”.

Super can already be released early in limited circumstances, including severe financial hardship and compassionate grounds. Both have strict eligibility rules.

Record new SMSFs, started by younger people

A record 52,020 SMSFs were established in 2025-26, up from 42,336 the year before and double the number set up five years ago, according to the ATO quarterly statistical report for the June quarter. There are now 680,301 SMSFs with 1,246,552 members and $1.107 trillion in assets, close to a quarter of Australia’s $4.77 trillion super system.

Who is opening them has been changing. Half the members of funds established in the June quarter were under 45, and 39% were aged 35 to 44. Across the existing SMSF population, 74% of members are 50 or older and only 16% are under 45. SMSFs have long been something people moved to once retirement came into view. The people opening them now are mostly a decade or more away from it.

They also earn well. 54% of new members reported taxable income above $100,000 on their most recent tax return, against 23% earning under $60,000. And they are not starting from scratch. Administrator Class, which reports on the funds it administers rather than on the whole sector, found funds opened by its clients in 2024-25 started with an average balance of $467,000, brought across in about one and a half rollovers.

What they hold looks different too. Across the funds Class administers, exchange traded funds (ETFs) passed unlisted trusts for the first time in 2025-26, at 7.2% of assets against 7.0%. ETFs have grown 72% as a share of assets since 2021-22, and more than a third of those funds now hold at least one. More of that ETF money is invested overseas than at home. Across the 20 largest ETF holdings, 52% sits in international funds, and among newly established funds the two biggest positions both track United States share indices. Across all Class funds, the largest tracks the Australian market.

Australian assets still dominate the sector as a whole. Class puts them at about 62% of all SMSF assets once shares, property and cash are counted, and the ATO puts listed shares at 26% of the total and cash and term deposits at 16%.

On balances, the gap between the average fund and the typical one is wide. In 2024-25 the average SMSF held $1.7 million and the average member $919,883, but the median fund held $979,207 and the median member $556,375. A small number of very large funds pull the averages up, so the median is the better guide to what an ordinary SMSF looks like.

Two caveats. The ATO notes that new entries and exits for recent quarters can be revised as fund notifications come in, so the 2025-26 numbers may move. And the Class figures cover the funds on its own platform, about $373 billion of the sector’s $1.107 trillion, not the whole market.

Colonial First State settles for $249 million

Slater and Gordon estimates more than half a million Australians could be in line for a top-up to their super, after reaching a $249 million in-principle settlement of a class action over the interest paid on cash investments.

The case, filed in 2018 following the Banking Royal Commission, was brought against Colonial First State Investments Limited, Avanteos Investments Limited and the Commonwealth Bank. It alleged that members’ savings in cash and deposit options inside CFS FirstChoice, FirstWrap and Commonwealth Essential Super were invested with the parent bank at lower interest rates than were available elsewhere, and that the trustees received undisclosed payments that gave them a reason to keep the money there. The period covered runs from November 2008 to September 2021.

The settlement was reached without any admission of liability and is the largest Slater and Gordon has achieved in a group proceeding.

“In superannuation, small differences add up,” said Nathan Rapoport, the firm’s class actions practice group leader.

Two things matter if you think you may be affected. The settlement still needs Federal Court approval, and entitlements will then be calculated under a court-approved scheme, so this will take time. And most group members will not need to do anything to receive their share, which for most people would likely be paid into their super account.

Three funds penalised over misleading disclosures

ASIC has issued six infringement notices totalling $118,800 to the trustees of three super funds over what it alleges were false or misleading descriptions of their investment options.

Australian Retirement Trust, Telstra Super and Australian Meat Industry Superannuation, trustee of Australian Food Super, each received two notices worth $39,600. The notices followed an ASIC review of what super trustees were telling members on their websites. Telstra Super’s members moved to Aware Super when the two funds merged in April, and its trustee company now operates as Tetra Servicing.

The examples are specific. AMIST told members its Alternatives option was invested entirely in private equity. Telstra Super’s website said its Property option used a seven-year time horizon when the correct figure was 10, and listed the wrong split between growth and defensive assets.

“Getting these basics right is fundamental,” said ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant.

Australian Retirement Trust paid its notices on 10 August and Telstra Super on 3 September. AMIST has agreed to pay by 2 September 2027. Paying an infringement notice is not an admission of guilt or liability.

A fund’s website and its product disclosure statement (PDS) both have to be accurate, which is the whole reason ASIC acted. But they can fall out of step, and in Telstra Super’s case it was the PDS that carried the correct figures while the website had not caught up. An option’s asset mix, time horizon and return objective are all set out in the current PDS, which is the document to check rather than a website summary.

Further fallout from the First Guardian collapse