Treasurer, Joe Hockey, says he will consider whether the GST should be removed from tampons and other women’s sanitary items.
Hockey gave an undertaking to university student, Subeta Vimalarajah, on the ABC’s Q&A program on Monday night, that he would raise the issue with the states at the next meeting of the treasurers in July.
Condoms, lubricant, and sunscreen are GST-free and Vimalarajah’s petition against a tax on sanitary products has 100,000 signatures.
Opposition finance spokesman, Tony Burke, said it would be a positive step if Hockey could get agreement from the states.
Nationals MP, Andrew Broad, was surprised the GST applied to sanitary items, although he acknowledged he wasn’t very familiar with the products.
“I thought the GST was exempt for health products,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Greens deputy leader, Larissa Waters, said women had been unfairly taxed on an essential health items for the past 15 years.
She welcomed Hockey’s move to reconsider the “tampon tax”.
AAP
