Tourism Shopping Reform Group
Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS)
Background
The Association of Australian Convention Bureaux (AACB) is an active member of the Tourism Shopping Reform Group (TSRG).
The TSRG is a coalition of tourism and retail industry associations and businesses. The TSRG’s key aim is to support enhancements to Australia’s tourism shopping arrangements with a view to improving the overall attractiveness of Australia as a tourist destination.
The TSRG advocates for the introduction of a best-practice TRS. Australia’s current TRS is administered by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) through the Australian Border Force (ABF).
As one of the few known government-run TRS systems in the world, this is labour-intensive, time-consuming, paper-based and an inefficient use of scarce fully-trained ABF officers. The TSRG has developed an administrative enhancement proposal to reform the existing Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS). This proposal will enable private refund providers to administer the TRS within an open and competitive market.
Policy Recommendations
- That the Federal Government implements the proposal to change the administration of Australia’s GST
Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS) to allow competition by private refund operators. - That this change should proceed on the basis that (a) it is of an administrative nature only and (b) the proposal has already received the majority support required under the legislation for managing the GST arrangements.
- That there are no changes TRS entitlements, such as removing Australians from the scheme or increasing the minimum purchase threshold above $300.
TSRG is led by
