Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull insists he is not advocating a hike in the GST, despite saying the impost is still in the tax review “mix”.

“I’m not talking about raising the GST … but it is clearly a possibility,” Mr Turnbull told ABC radio in Tasmania on Friday.

The need for changes to the tax system was clearly well understood and there was “a lot of possibilities and angles” on the table.

• Lack of entrepreneurs costing us
• Sydney is the third most over-valued global city

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the government wants to increase the GST to avoid making hard decisions.

“I think if the Liberal party want to tackle their ballooning budget deficit they should stop giving a leave pass to multi-nationals … and go after the superannuation tax concessions,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

Debate over raising the GST gained momentum after the 2014 budget, when the Abbott government reduced forward estimate payments to the states for key areas such as health and education spending.

GST revenue, though collected by the Commonwealth, belongs to the states – leading to speculation the states will agree to ask the federal government to raise the rate of GST from 10 per cent, or broaden the categories of goods and services to which it applies, including fresh food and education expenses.