Student to The Treasurer: "Stop Taxing my Period!"
Last night on Q&A, Treasurer Joe Hockey faced a video question on GST and the tax review that he wasn’t really expecting to have to answer. However it was one that half of Australia’s population has waited to ask:
“Mr Hockey, do you believe sanitary products are an essential health good for half the population?”
It came from Subeta Vimalarajah, a student from the University of Western Sydney. Subeta has a petition on CommunityRun.org that is quickly gaining long overdue support and momentum.
The question is certainly a fair one. Condoms and lube are exempt from GST, and could be seen as a much more ‘fun time‘ products than the necessity of sanitary products. Finally, this issue is coming to the fore with the question being put to the Treasurer.
Mr Hockey, who has displayed a pretty good knack of foregoing empathy even in the most obvious situations, was again not quite where most of the population would expect him to be on such an obvious injustice.
“Well, I need the permission of the states,” he said, warming himself up to a position. “Yes, I will raise this at the next meeting of State Treasurers in July,”
Mr Hockey knows politics. If he had said, “Yes, I promise you that this tax will be gone by the end of the year,” he would have emerged the hero, and placed all responsibility onto the states, should they choose to hold the status quo. Instead he squibbed it, and perhaps opened the door for this lunacy to continue for many more years.