A sacked Turnbull Government minister called for billionaires to get a GST exemption for bringing super yachts to Australia days after getting free tickets to a boat show.
Stuart Robert, a Gold Coast-based Liberal MP, made a passionate call in parliament for the 10 per cent tax to be scrapped on luxury cruiser charters – an hour after a female politician called for tampons to be GST free.
‘So why don’t we apply a modicum of common sense and get rid of this ridiculous rule of 10 per cent GST on charter boats?,’ he said.
‘It is something we can all agree on.’
A former Turnbull Government minister called for billionaires to get a GST exemption for bringing super yachts to Australia after getting free tickets to a boat show (Dragonfly boat pictured)
Mr Robert, who was sacked as a minister in February 2016, made his speech 10 days after receiving two free tickets to the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show
Mr Robert, who was sacked as a minister in February 2016 for his links to Chinese businesses, made his Wednesday night speech to the House of Representatives only 10 days after receiving two free tickets to the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show in the exclusive millionaires’ row gated suburb of Hope Island, which is home to former mining magnate Clive Palmer.
However, he angrily denied be influenced by the tickets when contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Thursday night.
‘Don’t be stupid or I’ll just hang up. Don’t be an idiot. I’ve been pushing this issue for years,’ he said by phone.
‘A 20-buck ticket to go to a Sanctuary Cove boat show that I’ve been to almost every year for 10 years, and I’ve opened many times, is completely irrelevant.’
He declared his gift on the pecuniary interest register on May 21, as required by law.
His call for the super yacht GST exemption was also made an hour after Labor backbencher Sharon Claydon moved a motion for tampons to be GST-free.
Like other Liberal MPs, Mr Robert is opposed to a GST exemption for women’s period products.
‘This is an unfair and discriminatory tax on women,’ she said.
‘Tampons and pads are not luxury items but rather essential items.’
The backbencher member for Fadden, believed he could win support from the Labor Party to have the GST scrapped on super yachts
The Turnbull Government is opposed to scrapping the GST on tampons, as the Labor Opposition and the Greens campaign to have the consumption tax exception on fruit and vegetables extended to women’s sanitary products.
However Mr Robert, the backbencher member for Fadden, believed he could win support from the Labor Party to give a tax exemption to super yacht owners.
‘I also believe there is an opportunity – and I’ve been reaching out to the Labor Party on this – to deal with the issue of the 10 per cent impost of GST on any super yacht that comes to Australia and wishes to charter,’ he said.
‘Right now, we face the farcical situation where there are no registered super yachts in Australia. These large boats come to Australia.’
Stuart Robert, a Gold Coast-based Liberal National Party MP, made a passionate call in parliament for the 10 per cent tax to be scrapped on luxury cruiser charters
Sharon Claydon, the backbench member for Newcastle, said her Labor Party would be unlikely to even consider making super yachts GST free.
‘I don’t think it will find much track in the Labor Party,’ she told Daily Mail Australia today.
‘It you were to think about what was a luxury item and where the GST might legitimately apply, I think we would then consider that super yachts are pretty much a luxury item.’
Mr Robert mentioned the nine-year-old Dragonfly super yacht, built in Western Australia, which is believed to be owned by Google co-founder Sergey Brin
She described his call for super yacht charters to be GST as an example of a male politician with the wrong priorities.
‘I mean, 50 per cent of the population are having to spend more than $30 million a year in GST on essential items like tampons and sanitary pads and these guys think somehow super yachts deserve the free kick,’ she said.
‘If men in the Liberal Party could stand up and say that, there’s two things: one, they have very twisted priorities; two, they seriously need more women in the party room.’
Stuart Robert angrily denied be influenced by the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show tickets when contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Thursday night: ‘Don’t be stupid or I’ll just hang up. Don’t be an idiot. I’ve been pushing this issue for years.’
Mr Robert said a GST exemption could see a new boat charter industry on the Gold Coast
Mr Robert mentioned the nine-year-old Dragonfly super yacht, built in Western Australia, which is believed to be owned by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
The 73-metre boat, worth $80 million, is not even available for charter and was spotted in Sydney last year.
However, Mr Robert said a GST exemption could see a new boat charter industry on the Gold Coast.
‘Let us go forth and build a great boating industry, not just for the Gold Coast but for the entire country,’ he said.