Buoyed by the solid value of the Australian dollar and a relatively liberal GST regulation on online commerce, many shoppers appear to be turning on internet shopping which prompted the federal treasury to mull the imposition of goods purchased through retail websites.

The plan, according to the federal government, would now include online transactions of less than $1000 and intends to assist domestic retailers in competing against international retail websites as more and more Australians explore their growing options in doing their shopping.

The office of Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten had acknowledged that the current trend is indeed beneficial to local consumers but the welfare of local traders should not be discarded too as the government guns for ways to balance the problematic online trading environment.

Mr Shorten hinted during an interview with ABC on Wednesday that the federal plan is still in the consideration phase as he clarified that subjecting imported goods on GST is a remote possibility for now though the suggestion has been discussed with Australian retailers.

On its part, consumer advocate Choice said that pushing the boundaries of GST on online trading must be carefully weighed by the government as it argued that protecting local retailers should not amount to some form of punishments for Australian consumers.

Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn maintained that extending GST on products acquired through international retail websites would not solve the problems of the struggling retail industry.

First consideration, according to Mr Zinn, is the administrative question of effectively imposing and collecting the new tax plus the reality of attaching the GST on the value of the Australian dollar, which is almost eternally moving.

However, Australian retailers seem to welcome the idea as they called on federal authorities to revisit the current rule of excluding GST payments for online purchases from international sources that do not breach the $1000 mark.

Harvey Norman chief Gerry Harvey told ABC that the federal government needs to rethink its existing GST policy on international purchases as he stressed that "a good government would look at it, anticipate the problems, and start doing something about it."