More than 360,000 people suffering financial hardship have rushed to the ATO’s website and flagged their intention to withdraw up to $10,000 from their superannuation account.

Emergency access to retirement savings is one of the more controversial coronavirus relief measures and has sparked heated debate around the purpose of superannuation.

Christina Hobbs is the CEO of Verve Super, a fund created specifically for women, says her fund has been inundated with calls as women are more likely to be engaged in casual work.

“A lot of our members have been hit by this and the stories we’ve been hearing have been really tragic,” Ms Hobbs tells Brooke Corte.

“There’s a lot of people that [view] this money as a lifeline,”

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