David Leyonhjelm (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate:

(a) notes that:

  (i) in contrast to New Zealand's comprehensive GST, Australia's GST does not apply to a significant range of products, such as various healthcare products, essential services including water, and basic food and beverages,

  (ii) healthcare products that are listed as GST-free in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (the GST Act), an Act of the Commonwealth Government, include medical devices and aids such as incontinence pads,

  (iii) the Minister for Health is empowered under section 38 of the GST Act to unilaterally declare additional goods to be GST-free – previous Commonwealth Health Ministers have used this power to make various goods GST-free, including condoms, lubricants, folic acid, sunscreen and nicotine patches and gums,

  (iv) infant formula is GST-free under the basic food and beverage category,

  (v) GST on breastfeeding aids is estimated to contribute less than $2 million to the $63 billion in annual GST revenues,

  (vi) breastfeeding aids are essential healthcare products for many mothers and their babies, and

  (vii) it is therefore inequitable for incontinence pads, condoms, lubricants, folic acid, sunscreen, and nicotine patches and gums to be GST-free on health grounds, for water to be GST-free on the grounds of water being essential, and for infant formula to be GST-free under the basic food and beverage category, but for breastfeeding aids to be subject to GST; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to remove the GST on breastfeeding aids.