SOUTH West Coast MP Roma Britnell says the so-called ‘tampon tax’ is outrageous and is backing a call for the GST to be dropped on feminine hygiene products.
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Mrs Britnell said it was inconsistent for feminine hygiene products to have a GST on them when products such as sunscreen, condoms, lubricants, incontinence pads and nicotine patches were exempt.
“For me it’s an anomaly,” she said.
“Why are these treated as a luxury product, they’re not. It’s outrageous.”
Mrs Britnell’s comments come after a move by the Liberal Women's Council Victoria to remove the GST from feminine hygiene products.
The products are currently labelled as a luxury good.
The group is putting the motion to Victorian Liberals state council on Saturday and argues removing the tax would not rip a big hole in the budget.
"But it will have a great influence on the female vote and will help show voters that the Liberal party cares [for] and supports Australian women."
"It is time for feminine hygiene products to be reclassified under the GST health exemption like sunscreen, condoms, lubricants, incontinence pads and nicotine patches. These are all essential health products," the motion says.
Mrs Britnell said the change should be made because it’s the right decision not the popular one.
“We shouldn’t be doing things to attract votes,” she said. “We should be doing things because they’re the right thing to do.”
Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West executive officer Emily Lee-Ack welcomed Mrs Britnell’s comments and said it would be fantastic for it to be enshrined in party policy.
She said anyone who perceived tampons as a luxury item didn’t have a good understanding of women’s reproductive health.
“This stretches right back to the establishment of the GST and it should have been addressed then,” she said. “It’s fantastic to see that it might be enshrined in party policy.”
Fairfax Media reported that the state opposition's shadow women's minister Georgie Crozier would not commit to outright support of the proposal. "If the federal government decided to open up a debate on GST reform, there is an argument to include female sanitary products in the same category as items like condoms which are GST free," she said.
