Hello tampon tax crusader, I never imagined that one day I'd ask the Australian Federal Police for permission to film tampons dancing at Parliament House. It's safe to say they weren't expecting it either. When our tampon troupe turned up in Canberra last Thursday the AFP couldn't stop laughing – car horns honked, politicians blushed, hordes of day-tripping school kids snapped photos, and the best thing: the New Zealand Governor's motorcade drove past just as our giant tampon truck was pulling up!
Thank you to everyone who braved the rain to come along to our
Parliament Lawns picnic and lent their voice to our video. Thank you
also to everyone who signed the petition, generously chipped in to fund
our stunt, and continues to support the campaign to remove this unfair
tax.
The fight's not over yet.
Only last week Treasurer Hockey committed to discussing the tampon tax
at the upcoming meeting of the states, but Prime Minister Abbott is fiercely pressuring him to back down.
The government desperately wants to increase the GST - not remove it -
so they're furious the tampon tax is dominating the debate.
The Treasurer is copping a lot of flak at the moment, so a mass
"Thank you, Mr Hockey" drive will help hold him to his word. Politicians
don't often get to be the good guys, and sometimes a simple thank you
is all that it takes to convince them to do the right thing. Can you help us send Mr Hockey thousands of thank you tweets, emails and phone calls to encourage him to stand by his word?
Our campaign is part of an incredible global movement of people
fighting to scrap the discriminatory tampon tax. People just like us are
demanding change in countries as far and diverse as England, Malaysia
and France. And just last week, Canada announced they're scrapping the
tax after their petition reached 74,644 signatures. With nearly 100,000
supporters, it's Australia's turn next!
As a big thank you for all your support, the CommunityRun team have helped me make an amazing video of our campaign and the hilarious stunt at Parliament House lawns.
I hope it makes you proud of all our hard work. I also plan to get in
touch with our global allies and share our video with them, and the
lessons we've learnt so far.
Right now, our campaign hinges on Mr Hockey following through with
raising the tampon tax with the states in July, but a lot of his
colleagues are breathing down his neck to drop it. We know Mr
Hockey agrees that this unfair tax should go, so let's send him
thousands of thank you messages to harden his resolve.
Last Thursday we didn't just catch the attention of the national
media and make the evening news, we instigated tens of thousands of
conversations in homes, workplaces, on the streets and in Parliament
about a topic that up until this point has been taboo. We're so close to
making history – please help us keep the pressure up.
Thank you so much,
Subeta
PS. Don't forget to share a link to the video with your friends and family, and encourage them to thank Mr Hockey too: http://www.getup.org.au/thank-hockey
