CANBERRA, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Treasurers have agreed to make women's sanitary products exempt from General Sales Tax (GST).
Treasurers from Australia's states and territories on Wednesday unanimously agreed to support the Federal Government's proposal to remove the 10 percent tax on the products, ending an 18-year campaign to establish the exemption.
The exact products which will be made exempt have not yet been finalized but it is expected to cost the states 30 million Australian dollars each in tax revenue.
Kelly O'Dwyer, Australia's Minister for Women, said she was "delighted" that the Treasurers agreed on "the right outcome" at Wednesday's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Adelaide.
"We're really delighted that everyone's come on board to scrap what is an unfair tax," she told Sky News Australia.
"Millions of women right across the nation will be very thankful for it."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said scrapping the tax was "a bit of common sense."
"It had always been our view that we wanted to see it changed," he told Macquarie Media radio.
Morrison first promised to remove the tax during his time as Treasurer, describing it as an "anomaly" that never should have existed in the first place.
Sanitary products have been subject to GST since it was introduced in 2000 after the government at the time refused to make them exempt as a health product, saying the products did not prevent illness.
Josh Frydenberg, who succeeded Morrison as Treasurer, said that his colleagues from the states and territories agreeing to the plan was "good news for women across Australia" that was "long overdue".
It is expected that the exemption will be in place by Jan. 1, 2019.
