Pauline Hanson’s One Nation got one thing right today: people should be able to access their superannuation when they need it. It is, after all, their money.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is predictably shocked. Like Paul Keating, Chalmers views compulsory super as a foundational triumph, driven by the neoliberal myth that Australia will eventually run out of money for public pensions. In reality, compulsory super was Keating’s greatest blunder—alongside privatising the Commonwealth Bank.

Today, superannuation functions as a tax haven for the wealthy and a financial burden for everyone else, leaving many women with next to nothing in retirement. We should aspire to more than working our entire lives just to secure a half-decent retirement.

It is time to replace the superannuation hoax and the complex welfare system with a robust universal basic income.

So, I’m not paying the rent!

The national government does not need to borrow money! It may spend on any essential objective, including a universal income. In fact, a universal income is actually ‘funded’ by being a direct deduction from currently stolen economic rents.

Stephen Zarlenga approvingly cited Henry George’s understanding of money here (in the second half).

As the financial crunch approaches–next year?–decisive policy action will be required—specifically, federal Treasury’s implementation of VIMMLBUTT: a lonely, but the only, effective proposition.

Is Treasury up for it?

#VIMMLBUTT

(Continued)

Land values provide a massive, untapped source of public revenue that can completely replace traditional taxes. Following classical economic theory established by John Locke, we know that all taxes ultimately fall on land values, meaning the argument that there isn’t enough rent to replace existing taxes is false.

Shifting to this model is critical because taxing incomes and consumption distorts the economy and drives up prices. In contrast, taxing land and natural resource rents creates zero excess burden (deadweight loss).

While it is hard to calculate exactly how much taxes inflate daily living expenses, the sheer scale of uncollected rent is clear: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Table 61 shows Australia’s total land prices, the private capitalisation of publicly-generated land rent, reached $10 trillion in 2025, which breaks down to an incredible $375,000 for every citizen.

Maybe we’ll address and repair these terrible socioeconomic corruptions at the next financial crunch?

DR GARRICK SMALL