mattwnz:

 

I can understand why these overseas companies would do this. The hassle of all the red tape would be a nightmare I think. I don't mind paying the GST at all, but I think the government need to think of a better way to do it, and I don't recall this being an election policy anyway.

 

I can imagine that freight forwarding companies  would also be required to charge it if people try to use their services.  

 

Yup. I think the thing MOST annoying to people in this whole case is not the fact that they will have to pay GST. That's a small annoyance. The biggest issue in the Australian case is that it restricts people buying the items they want. It is only possible to source some blu rays (for instance) from Amazon in France, Germany, or the UK, but those will now not deliver to Australia, effectively preventing people from buying the goods they want. Where else are they supposed to go? The local stores don't have the goods, and it would be prohibitively expensive to get a local store to order goods in for you all the time. A blu-ray or CD would probably end up being twice the price.

This is effectively a geo-block, cutting people off from buying the goods they want. In the age of the global marketplace via the internet, this is a step backwards.

And it is all being done for selfish reasons, such as gathering tax.