Fed: PM rallies troops as GST devastates govt support

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2000
Fed: PM rallies troops as GST devastates govt support

By Stephen Spencer and James Grubel

CANBERRA, Feb 15 AAP - Prime Minister John Howard today urged coalition MPs and senators
to hold their nerve on the GST in the face of polls showing a dramatic slump in support
for both the tax and his government.

The appeal coincided with the tabling of a mass electronic petition demanding the removal
of the GST from tampons, a move now supported by the Australian Democrats.

The latest AC Nielsen poll found support for the government had slumped four points
since December, and it now trailed Labor by six points.

All three major polls now have Labor so far in front that an election anytime soon
would see the government ousted in a landslide.

Mr Howard acknowledged the polls were unlikely to improve for the government before
the arrival of the GST in July.

But he reminded his MPs and senators other governments had come from behind to win
re-election, and they still had 18 months left to regain electoral support.

"We have ahead of us a challenging few months," a spokesman quoted Mr Howard as saying.

"Keep in mind there's no election scheduled for some time, that's the end of 2001."

He said he could understand why people were apprehensive about the new tax system,
but he said it was important not to give ground on the GST.

"If the government was to falter now, then it would be clearly written off," he said.

"If we allowed further exemptions then a campaign would start the next day to allow
a range of further exemptions so far as the GST is concerned."

The remark was a clear reference to the growing campaign to have tampons and similar
products exempted from the GST, which today saw the tabling in the Senate of an electronic
petition of 10,355 signatures.

More ominously for the government, its co-sponsor of the GST legislation, the Australian
Democrats, also joined the campaign against the GST on tampons.

"I say to the prime minister, if he wants the women of Australia back onside and supportive
of tax reform he will deal with an issue that is now very much seen as one of discrimination,"

Democrats Leader Meg Lees told reporters.

However, Mr Howard is standing firm, and insisting the government's troubles will be
over once the GST actually arrives, turning the emphasis back on the ALP to release its
tax policies.

AAP ss/mfh/ej/br

KEYWORD: TAX NIGHTLEAD

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