Policy to allow women to access super for housing could lead to economic abuse, warns industry body

Women in Super has cautioned there is “no way” to protect women from the risk of economic abuse under a new proposal by Liberal MPs to allow single and divorced women to access their superannuation early to purchase a home.

The proposal, first reported by The Australian Financial Review on Tuesday, would expand on the Coalition’s policy to allow first home buyers to access up to $50,000 of their super.

NSW Liberal senator Maria Kovacic, who is leading the campaign, said providing this option to single women in their late 40s and 50s could be the difference between home ownership and being lifelong renters.

She reiterated the policy on LinkedIn, highlighting research that single women who rent are at the highest risk of poverty in retirement, while women over 55 now represent the fastest-growing group of homeless Australians.

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“We must take decisive action to facilitate home ownership and ensure that an entire generation of women does not fall through the cracks,” the senator said.

However, industry body Women in Super said it is concerned by these recent media reports, saying it highlighted the shortfall in funding for crisis support and affordable housing.

This disparity, it said, sees many older women fall into poverty or be forced to choose between violence or poverty.

“The shortfall in funding for women who have separated, for affordable housing and crisis support, must be urgently addressed,” said Jo Kowalczyk, CEO of Women in Super.

“Women should not be forced to rob from their economic security in retirement in order to leave a bad relationship.”

Research suggests women typically retire with 25 per cent less super than men, derived from taking time out of the workforce to have children.

According to Kowalczyk, allowing early access to home ownership would “effectively take Australian women back to the situation before the introduction of a universal superannuation system”, which saw superannuation as the “preserve of men and older single women were expected to survive on the age pension alone”. 

She also said the proposal could lead to economic abuse of women, with a fifth of Australian women (16 per cent) found to have experienced economic abuse at the hands of an intimate partner.

“There is no way to protect women from the risk of economic abuse under this proposal,” Kowalczyk said.