The woman who led Australia's first protest against the GST on women's sanitary products says she'd be willing to don her giant tampon costume again.

Rhonda Ellis, AKA Tania Tampon, confronted former prime minister John Howard in the northern New South Wales town of Murwillumbah in 2000.

She was dressed in a tampon costume, created by her friend Madeleine Doherty, and made from cardboard, bed sheets and plant fibre for the 'rounded top'.

"Somebody rang me and asked me would I get inside it," Ms Ellis said.

"I guess I was known for demonstrations and a little bit of bravery.

"So I went and got inside the costume.

"It was quite large and a little bit heavy on top of the head and it had a kind of grill to look out of so you could see where you were going."

Ms Ellis and a group of other Northern Rivers residents waited outside of the Tweed Shire Council Chambers for Mr Howard who was touring the region in February, 2000.

"They all crowded around with signs that said things like 'we bleed and we vote'," Ms Ellis said.

She described Mr Howard's reaction to the giant tampon costume as somewhat 'strange'.

"I'd never seen the prime minister up close like that before," Ms Ellis said.

"He got out of the car and walked towards the crowds as though they were welcoming him with a big smile on his face.

"I don't think there was anyone there who had come to welcome the prime minister.

"It was obvious that his focus was totally off."

Ms Ellis said when Mr Howard approached her she became the focus of the event.

"I said things like 'please don't put a GST on tampons'," she said.

"Or something maybe ruder than that - it was a long time ago."

Ms Ellis said Mr Howard didn't say anything to her before he walked away.

"He seemed a bit shocked," she said.

"I think he thought he had a public, but he didn't."

Fifteen years on, the issue is back in the spotlight as the Federal Opposition is pushing for the removal of the GST from tampons and pads.

Shadow finance minister Tony Burke said the Parliamentary Budget Office found it would cost the budget $480 million over 10 years, or $70 million in its first two years of operation from mid-2017.

Treasurer Joe Hockey was asked about the issue last month on ABC TV's Q&A program and agreed to cost the change with the results to be discussed at a meeting in July.

Ms Ellis said she was proud of her involvement in the first protest against the issue and possibly inspiring others to continue the fight.

"I thought it was very enterprising of the women of the Tweed to have got that whole thing together," she said.

"But I would've thought something would've happened between now and then.

"One of the encouraging things was that a group of women from Canberra did a much more contentious demonstration. They wore tampons dipped in some red substance hanging over their ears."

Ms Ellis said she would replay her role as Tania Tampon if it would help to have the tax finally abolished.

"I'd be only too happy to climb back into that costume," she said.