Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

Of course he does. Senator Hume is doing an outstanding job, an absolutely outstanding job, in helping the government develop our response, supporting Australians through this crisis, helping Australians who have lost their job or who have lost significant work hours, who are facing significant financial challenges, to be able to get through this period, pay the mortgage, pay the fees that they're facing, by accessing some of their superannuation early.

This is actually not a new system. Hardship provisions and early access of superannuation under hardship provisions is a well-established system. We have adapted it in this context. And, of course, the correspondence that the senator refers to had some other assertions too, like that somehow $50 billion of superannuation savings would walk out the door. We always said that that was an excessive and exaggerated prediction, and if you look at the figures, at the way they have been developing, that indeed has been proven to be right.