Australian retailers will launch an advertising campaign urging the government to impose GST on all goods bought over the Internet.
From Tuesday, major retailers including Myer, David Jones, Harvey Norman and Target will take out the print advertisements, The Australian reports.
The local sector has suffered from heavy discounting during the Christmas shopping period from overseas online retailers and a surging Australian dollar.
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The ads warn that a failure to act "will see a reduction in hours and shifts for casual and part-time workers, and ultimately cost Australians jobs in retail, manufacturing, logistics and related services".
If the government does not want to impose GST on internet purchases, which are free of GST and import duty if valued at less than $1000, it should not impose it on domestic purchases, the ads also claim.
The coalition of retailers is spending about $200,000 on print advertising over the next two weeks, The Australian reports, but is considering a television campaign that would push the budget into the millions.
