Tanya Plibersek suggests applying GST to 12 natural therapies to recoup the $30m that would be lost

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Labor has promised to axe the so-called tampon tax if it wins government, saying it has found a way to get the states on board.

The deputy Labor leader, Tanya Plibersek, said applying the 10% GST to the 12 natural therapies such as herbalism and naturopathy would recoup the $30m that would be lost.

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“Because we are able to replace the money we believe we will be able to get the states and territories on board this time around,” Plibersek told the Nine Network on Sunday.

The foreign affairs 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.

“The point is this: any change to the GST must be agreed by each state and territory government. And there is no agreement for the states and territories on this issue,” she told Nine.

Australian women spend around $300m on sanitary products each year, with each item attracting the 10% GST because they are not considered necessities, the opposition said in a statement on Sunday.

However, products such as incontinence pads, sunscreen, nicotine patches and even Viagra are exempt from the tax.

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, is calling it a “tax on women”.

“We’ll do it if we get elected – but I hope Mr Turnbull will just adopt our solution in next week’s budget,” he said on social media.



The Greens moved amendments to a GST bill to try to bring in the change last year but it was voted down in the Senate.

The party’s spokeswoman for women, Janet Rice, said she has a draft bill ready to go and has asked for Labor’s help to pass it.

“If Labor work with us in the coming weeks we could see the GST removed from menstrual hygiene products once and for all,” she said. “We’ve been taxed on our biology for long enough. This sexist and unfair tax needs to go now.”



