"The idea for a broad-based consumption tax was first proposed by federal treasurer Paul Keating at the 1985 Tax Summit but was dropped at the behest of then Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke after pressure from the ACTU, welfare groups and business, which did not like its association with proposals for capital gains and fringe benefits taxes.
The idea was revived in 1991 by the opposition Liberal-National Coalition led by Dr John Hewson, and a GST was the centrepiece of the opposition's "Fightback!" platform at the 1993 election. The opposition had difficulty explaining the policy, as exemplified by Hewson's famous Birthday Cake Interview, and Labor prime minister Paul Keating's campaign exploited public distrust of a GST, which was considered a factor in the opposition's surprise loss of the "unloseable" 1993 election. In 1994 the Liberals decided to discard the remnants of "Fightback!" and Alexander Downer replaced Hewson as Liberal leader. John Howard was re-elected leader of the Liberal party in 1995, and pledged "never, ever" to introduce the GST.[4] Howard led the Liberal-National Coalition to a large victory in the 1996 federal election. However, before the 1998 election, Howard proposed a GST that would replace all existing sales taxes, as well as applying to all goods and services. At the election, the Howard Government suffered a swing against it of 4.61% at the election, achieving a two-party-preferred vote of only 49.02%, compared with Labor on 50.98%. Nevertheless, the incumbent government retained a majority of seats in the lower house and Howard described the election win as a "mandate for the GST". Lacking a Senate majority, and with Labor opposed to the introduction of the GST, the government turned to the minor parties such as the Australian Democrats to gain the necessary support to get the necessary legislation through the Senate."
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goods_and_services_tax_(Australia)
