Netregistry today announced its decision to join the Retail Coalition and support the efforts of local retailers to close the GST and duty loophole that is currently disadvantaging Australian businesses.

Netregistry supplies over 250,000 Australian online businesses (or one in three of all businesses in Australia using the internet) and many of those businesses are local online retailers. Customer feedback supports the notion that the Government's GST and duty loophole is failing to support local online businesses who want to compete on a level playing field and thereby encouraging local consumers to shop offshore.

Netregistry CEO and co-founder Larry Bloch said:

"Australian consumers need to understand this exemption in the context of the survival of tens of thousands of small businesses owned and staffed by their friends and families. The Australian Government refusing to take timely action on their behalf it is yet another indictment of a Government that fails to support the millions of Australians who are dependent on Small Businesses for their future – as owners, spouses, family or staff in the over 1 million small businesses in Australia.

"Small retailers have taken advantage of the Internet. They are disadvantaged by the disparity in price compared to overseas rivals and that's a direct result of the unequal Australian tax regime. I hear from businesses every day that they are doing in tough and that Australian policy settings are a big part of the problem.

"This is not about the profits of large retailers, but about the basic fairness of our tax policies towards decent, everyday Australians who are trying to have a fair go without asking for anything from anyone.

"I support the campaign by the Retail Coalition to overturn this unfair and inequitable tax exemption. Small Australian retailers are already doing their best to compete with large Australian retailers and they should simply be allowed to compete on a level playing field with overseas counterparts as well. If the Australian consumer has to pay a consumption tax on foreign imports, then we should all see that as the fair consequence of being subject to Australian tax law - which ultimately pays for all the Government services we enjoy. That is only fair and as Australians we have long known and accepted that there is a price to bear by playing fair."

Charlotte Norman