Urges retail group End GST crusade
The nation's largest retail lobby has called for an end to the damaging GST campaign being led by the Gerry Harvey, Myer and Solomon Lew alliance.
Their surprise call came as another group joined the alliance - furniture importers. It is unclear to Inside Retailing just how its members would be affected by a threshold being lowered from $1000.
Today, the Fair Imports Alliance, which represents a coalition of retail and wholesale industry associations, led by Australian Retailers Association and the Australian Sporting Goods Association, called on the Big Boys to end their campaign, describing it as "an unmitigated disaster".
The alliance has written to the members of the big retail coalition including CEOs and boards of the various companies involved, asking them to stop their campaign and instead focus on the Productivity Commission Inquiry into the Future of Retail.
Fair Imports Alliance spokesperson Brad Kitschke said the campaign had proven "a public relations nightmare" for the broader retail community.
"We warned them, we asked them not to go ahead with the campaign which actually doesn’t address the issue properly and is narrowly focused," said Kitschke.
“The issue is broader than just the GST. It’s about custom duties, illicit trade and consumer protection. Consumers have rightly rejected this campaign by the big retailers. They have not done their research and they are asking the government to implement a solution to a problem that goes well beyond the GST. They have just got it wrong," Kitschke said in a statement.
“We have been working on this issue for a long time. Where was Gerry Harvey or Solomon Lew when we were fighting to have this issue addressed in July 2010 or for the five years before that? They have jumped on board at the last minute and have royally stuffed things up,” he said.
ARA chief Russell Zimmerman agreed the way to fix issues with low value imports is to look at a broad spectrum of factors, "not just the GST".
The Fair Imports Alliance comprises the Australian Retailers Association, Australian Sporting Goods Association, Bicycle Industries Australia, Australian Toy Association, Photo Marketing Association, Australian Fishing Trade Association, Australian Booksellers Association, Australian Music Association and the Retail Cycle Traders Australian. Read More ...
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