The Australian Federal Police, the state police forces, and Australian Border Force are all coming together Captain Planet style to work on a brand new project: punishing everyone who has been hoarding groceries.
If you’ve been down to your local supermarket over the last few weeks, you’ll have noticed that what started as a distinct lack of toilet paper has turned into a distinct lack of everything. If you’re trying to get pasta, flour, sugar, meat, tinned veggies, fresh veggie, almost anything, then you’re going to have a problem. Scott Morrison got up at a press conference on Tuesday and scolded the nation in his best dad voice, telling us that hoarding was unAustralian and “not who we are,” but now things are kicking up a notch.
On Thursday morning, Peter Dutton – still recovering from his own bout of coronavirus – spoke to 2GB’s Ray Hadley about the hoarders.
“We do have some people who are profiteering, they are hoarding not for their own consumption,” he said.
“I think they are either selling some of the product overseas or they are selling it in a blackmarket arrangement in Australia. I’m going to come after those people and I’ll give them a fair warning now: it won’t be a pretty experience when we deal with them.”
“If people are profiteering out of a national crisis, then they are going to be dealt with.”
There’s no doubt that some people are trying to profit off of this mess, all it takes is a quick search of eBay or Facebook Marketplace to find toilet paper and hand sanitiser going for some astronomical prices.
So tell your mate to take down their online listing for soap, because sooner rather than later they’re going to have the Australian Border Force (of all people) show up on their doorstep.
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