More than 22,000 St George and Sutherland Shire residents have effectively wiped out their superannuation

According to figures released by Industry Super Australia, St George and Sutherland Shire residents withdrew almost $1billion in superannuation after the Federal Government allowed workers to access up to $20,000 from their retirement savings.

In April the government relaxed super's preservation rules allowing Australians who had lost their jobs or had hours reduced to access $10,000 in super before July 1 and a further $10,000 until December.

Industry Super Australia (ISA) is the union and employer-backed fund sector lobby group for 15 Industry SuperFunds, representing five million industry super members.

ISA's figures show that in the Prime Minister Scott Morrison's seat of Cook, which covers parts of St George and Sutherland Shire, 20,765 workers accessed a total of $215 million in retirement savings after the Federal Government relaxed preservation rules.

The Industry Super Australia figures show the average payout was $7,545 and 4,739 accounts were virtually wiped out.

In Craig Kelly's seat of Hughes, 21,530 applied for early access to their super. There were $223.8 million in payments with the average payment $7,545 and with 4,944 accounts were wiped out.

In David Coleman's seat of Banks, 22,369 people applied and a total of $230 million was paid out. The average payment was $7,500 and 5,307 accounts were effectively wiped out.

In Lindy Burney's seat of Barton, 28,000 people applied and a total of $292 million was paid out. The average payment was $7,423 and 7,241 accounts were wiped out.

For the combined electorates of Cook, Hughes, Banks and Barton, a total of $961.9 million was paid out.

More than 1 million NSW residents withdrew $10 billion from their super early, Industry Super Australia's analysis of the Federal Government's early access scheme reveals.

More than 225,000 NSW workers effectively wiped out their retirement savings via the scheme, the most in the nation.

The super rate is legislated to rise from 9.5 per cent to 12 per cent by 2025 - with the first small 0.5 per cent increase in July.

Industry Super Australia Chief Executive Bernie Dean said with about one in four NSW workers accessing the scheme it will now be vital the government sticks to its promise to lift the super rate from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent next year, so these workers have a chance to recoup what they have lost.

"The young NSW workers who had to sacrifice their retirement savings to support themselves during the pandemic had been promised a super boost to make it up," Mr Dean said.

"Ripping it away from them would be a cruel double blow, it would leave them with far less at retirement and saddle these young workers with a whopping pension bill they pay for through higher taxes."

"Super is not a cookie jar for government to raid to solve short-term Budget problems, nor is it for housing. Busting into super early comes at a steep cost for the individual and future taxpayers, as a society we shouldn't be demanding our young people pay the price yet again," he said.