Tampon Bill, helping Australian women

Labor plans to remove ‘tampon tax’

Women from the University of Sydney at a ‘Tampon Tax’ protest at the front of Parliament House. Picture: Kym Smith.

The Australian

4:14PM April 29, 2018

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PRIMROSE RIORDAN

Political reporter
Canberra
@primroseriordan

Tampons and women’s sanitary products would no longer be taxed if Labor were to win the next federal election.
Labor has announced that they will remove the GST on these female products in negotiation with states and territories.
Labor Leader Bill Shorten said the tax was worth $30 million a year as Australian women spend around $300 million on sanitary products.

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Picture: AAP.
“This is a tax on women,” Labor Leader Bill Shorten said in a press release.
“Currently, every single one of these products is hit with the 10 per cent GST ... because they are not considered necessities.”
“At the same time, products such as incontinence pads, sunscreen and nicotine patches — even Viagra — are exempt from the tax.”
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek added there is now “no excuse” for the states and territories to “refuse to make this important change”.
She acknowledged there had already been several attempts to remove the tax from women’s sanitary products over the years, including by Liberal treasurer Joe Hockey in 2015, but “interference” from the states had made it “impossible”.
“The difference this time is we’ve identified an alternative source of funding for the states that leaves them slightly better off over the decade,” Ms Plibersek told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Tanya Plibersek. Picture: AAP.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the government already had the policy in place, but it was the states and territories — which must all agree to changes to the GST — that had stopped the change.
“There is no agreement for the states and territories on this issue,” she told the Nine Network.
Labor said they would offset the revenue loss by introducing the GST on 12 natural therapies that are sometimes GST free, such as herbalism and naturopathy.
“Ensuring the GST is applied to these therapies will bring their GST treatment into line with bipartisan policy to remove the private health insurance rebate from them,” Mr Shorten said.
“These natural therapies are not supported by clinical evidence, as the Commonwealth’s Chief Medical Officer and the National Health and Medical Research Council found in a review in 2015.”
The Greens immediately backed the move and claimed credit for the policy change.
“It’s great to finally see some commitment from Labor, after we’ve campaigned on this for years. This is another example of the Greens leading the policy agenda and Labor following,” said Senator Janet Rice, Greens spokesperson for women said.
With AAP

Senator Janet Rice. Picture: Kym Smith.

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