Senior cabinet minister Christopher Pyne insists the Turnbull government has no plans to change the GST but says a new opinion poll indicates that Labor has "manifestly failed" to scare voters away from the tax reform debate.
The latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll has found more than half its respondents supported an increase in the GST as long as the poor were compensated, income taxes cut and changes implemented to stop exploitation of superannuation tax breaks by the wealthy.
"Labor has manifestly failed in their not-very-scary scare campaign to scare the Australian public away from a debate," Mr Pyne told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
What the poll showed was that the public is willing to have a "sophisticated and intelligent" discussion.
Treasurer Scott Morrison agreed the tax discussion was heading in a "mature direction".
Income tax cuts were part of the original GST package back in 2000 and they were the "obvious thing to do" as part of tax reform, he said.
A whole range of state and territory taxes will be considered for scrapping as part of reforms to be discussed when Mr Morrison next meets with his state and territory counterparts.
The treasurer cited, as one example, state levies on insurance policies that cost Australians about $6 billion a year.
The tax debate has done little to dampen the enthusiasm voters appears to have for the Turnbull government.
The poll shows the coalition extending its two-party preferred lead over Labor to 56-44 per cent.
The coalition's primary vote has climbed to 48 per cent while Labor's has dropped to 29 per cent.
Malcolm Turnbull is the preferred prime minister with almost seven in 10 voters, compared to the 18 per cent who back Labor leader Bill Shorten.
The number of voters approving Mr Shorten's performance as opposition leader at 29 per cent is dwarfed by those who disapprove on 57 per cent.
This gives him a net approval rating of minus 28 per cent, his lowest level ever and matching the low figures former prime minister Tony Abbott achieved in January 2015 before the first leadership spill motion.
