Research · Source register
Evidence for the plain-English introduction and draft policy. Existing law, campaign modelling and unresolved policy choices are different kinds of material.
- ATO: illegal early access to super
Explains why publishing a proposal does not create permission to withdraw super.
- Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994, Schedule 1
The existing conditions-of-release framework. The proposed dividend is not itself a current condition of release.
- ATO: First Home Super Saver scheme
A distinct existing scheme with its own rules; not authority for the proposed dividend.
- Parliament of Victoria: how sitting days work
Context for advocacy through Parliament. A motion cannot guarantee debate, a vote, federal acceptance or implementation.
The precedent to test against
The COVID-19 early-release scheme is a real-world comparison, not an endorsement of this proposal. APRA reported $36.4 billion paid across 4.8 million applications by 31 January 2021. Applications are not a count of unique people. That scheme had different eligibility rules and did not use this proposal’s investment-growth floor.
The APRA final dashboard provides uptake and processing evidence. The 2020 Retirement Income Review examines retirement adequacy and early-release trade-offs. Any assessment of this proposal should test who would use it, what happens to low balances, and the future retirement cost, rather than treat access to cash as the only outcome.
Campaign model, not external proof
The campaign’s Super Growth Dividend presentation and the published draft are campaign material. The numerical examples are illustrative assumptions, not observed fund returns or official costings. The fixed-cap compounding gap has been arithmetically checked; that is not an audit of all eligibility, tax, fund or fiscal assumptions.
A proper review needs contribution timing, valuations, net returns, fees, tax, inflation, failed eligibility, market-loss sequences and distributional outcomes. Publish those assumptions with every scenario.
Unresolved claims and choices
Tax-free treatment is proposed, not established. An inflation-protected payout floor is not a guaranteed investment value. CPI indexation of the dollar cap is a policy option. The model does not establish whether this is fairer or more effective than other relief, or what it costs the Commonwealth.