Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg has again entered the political fray over super, re-litigating the argument that the retirement savings scheme should be used to help people buy a home — but has stopped short of announcing any policies.

Bragg will give a speech later today where he is expected to float ideas about how super could be used to boost home ownership ahead of retirement. While some of his colleagues support the discussion, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor stressed that no policy decisions had been made.

Senator Bragg said the Coalition had canvassed multiple options, including using super as collateral for a loan or withdrawing a lump sum for a house deposit.

“You could keep the money in the system, and it could operate as a collateral or an offset,” Bragg told ABC News Radio. “You could take it out to pay off a mortgage or to pull together a first home loan.” But he also remarked he was not advocating for any particular solutions for now, ahead of a speech he will give at the Financial Services Council later today.

The Coalition’s policy at the last two elections was to allow people to withdraw $50,000 from their super to put towards a house deposit. Opposition leader Angus Taylor said that was no longer the Coalition’s stance, and refused to engage with Bragg’s idea.

Australian Federal Treasurer Chalmers officially released the seventh Intergenerational Report (IGR) on Monday.

This 40-year economic and demographic forecast report indicates that due to a continued decline in fertility rates and rapid population aging, Australia will experience its first-ever death toll exceeding births in the 2060s. This means Australia will enter a phase of natural population decline already faced by many developed countries (such as Japan, Germany, and South Korea), with population growth becoming entirely dependent on overseas migration.

The report shows that Australia’s population growth rate will slow to 0.9% over the next few decades, down from the historical average of 1.4%. With a shrinking working-age population and surging demand for elderly care, the Australian economy has officially entered a “new normal” of low growth. Over the next 40 years, the average annual growth rate of real GDP per capita is projected to be only 1.2%, lower than the 1.5% of the past four years. The government’s fiscal burden will also increase accordingly, with public services and healthcare spending continuing to rise. It is projected that by the mid-2060s, government spending as a percentage of GDP will rise to 27.4%, facing a long-term structural fiscal deficit.

To address the demographic crisis and stagnant productivity, the Ministry of Finance is pinning its hopes on the comprehensive adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Chalmers emphasizes that AI is “the biggest economic transformation in our lifetime,” and that technological change will be the most crucial driver if productivity growth can be raised from its near-zero levels in recent years to the historical average of 1.2%. The report outlines six major transformative challenges for the next forty years, including the AI ​​revolution, geopolitical fragmentation, energy transition, population aging and the care economy, industrial transformation, and intergenerational equity, urging the government to promote long-term reforms to maintain national prosperity.

Pauline Hanson’s right-hand man, James Ashby, is enjoying generous benefits as a result of his role working for One Nation, with documents showing that a company linked to the party built a $56,000 shed on his central Queensland property.

Ashby, formerly Hanson’s chief of staff and now the party’s national director, also drives a new Ford Ranger that was “personally” gifted to One Nation by Hancock Agriculture’s chief executive, Adam Giles, in April. Hanson said the vehicle would help the party’s campaign efforts and “provides us the presence we need in the lead-up to the next federal election”.

Sources say Ashby is earning a lucrative salary in his new high-profile role. He also has regular access to the $2m Cirrus plane gifted to the party by Giles’ employer and Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart.

In May Hanson asked the Department of Finance for permission to establish a second electorate office in Yeppoon, further fuelling suggestions that Ashby was preparing a tilt at federal parliament. When asked if he would run at the next election, Ashby declines the possibility.