Supermarket shelves around the country have been left empty as people rush to stock up on staples while coronavirus spreads.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has slammed food hoarders and said he had a plan to stop them if the situation continued.
‘Obviously, there are measures that could be moved towards if we had to do it, but, to be honest, I’d be very disappointed if we had to,’ he said.
As experts warn that hoarding may get worse and last for months, Daily Mail Australia analyses how it could be stopped.
Woolworths in Double Bay is is left empty after people resorted to panic buying
Online shopping only
Dr Andrew Hughes from the ANU College of Business and Economics said one way to solve the problem would be to make everyone shop online.
Customers would be allowed to order a certain amount based on their household size and could either collect their items or have them delivered.
‘If I were the big supermarkets I would make customers buy items online only,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘This way you could easily track what households are ordering and only allow people to buy a certain amount, depending on the size of their family.
‘We could make sure everyone has access to everything they need at a fair price and the manufacturers will know how much they need to produce.’
He said the elderly and the vulnerable who do not have access to the internet should still be allowed access to supermarkets at certain times.
Call in the police or the Army
On Thursday police officers were forced to hand out packs of dunny roll and paper towels at a Sydney Woolworths.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy said: ‘Police are making a concerted effort to ensure the security of shoppers and retail staff across the state amid concerns of panic buying due to COVID-19.’
He said police will increase their presence around shopping centres due to the pandemic.
Police have been forced to handout toilet paper after panic buying reached dangerous levels at a Woolworths
Adjunct Professor Bill Bowtell, from UNSW’s Kirby Institute of Infection and Immunity, said more law enforcement was required.
Authorities need to ‘impose order and discipline’ to the panic buying crisis, Professor Bowtell said, with police helping enforce the rationing of goods.
‘It’s time to impose order and discipline,’ Mr Bowtell said, pointing to chaotic scenes at supermarkets and elderly people struggling to complete their weekly shop.
‘We have to accept there’s got to be rationing,’ he said.
‘The police have to be present at the supermarkets and the hospital waiting rooms.
Shelves have been left bare as people stock up amid panic over the coronavirus outbreak
‘If you go to the supermarket you’ve got to be told, you can have one pack of this, one tub of butter… and if you’ve got any problems go see the cop in the corner’
‘We have to accept the market economy as we’ve known it has ceased to function, and we have to take order and control.’
New measures regarding the police and Army could be arranged under the National Co-ordination Mechanism, which was triggered on March 5.
The NCM operates through the Department of Home Affairs and together with the states and territories is co-coordinating government responses to issues outside the direct health management of COVID-19.
WWII-style ration cards
Another option is to issue ration cards that get stamped or scanned when you buy items.
This would prevent people being able to flout rationing restrictions by simply returning later or going to a different shop on the same day.
Australian supermarket chains have announced special shopping hours for the elderly. Pictured: Woolworths in Sunbury, Melbourne
‘You could issue ration cards like like we did in WWII, just for a short period until normality resumes,’ Dr Hughes said.
‘We have seen rationing work in Australia recently when supermarkets asked people to show their driving licenses to buy baby formula last year,’ he said.
UNSW Professor Chung-Li Tseng agreed that rationing could help. ‘Rationing is certainly necessary to some extent,’ he said.
Increase prices
While shelves lay bare at the major supermarkets, some independent stores which have increased their prices have plenty of stock.
Several smaller stores are already charging up to $50 for toilet paper and $44 for hand sanitiser.
This has stopped people stocking up more than they need to, leaving plenty left on the shelves.
Left: Priceline in Sydney CBD sells hand sanitiser for $44.95 a bottle. Right: An IGA in Doonside sells an eight-pack of loo paper for $49.95
Significant price increases are yet to hit Coles and Wooloworths – but economists have warned they may be necessary to keep the shelves stocked
‘Coles and Woolworths are unlikely to hike prices hugely because they will be accused of trying to take advantage of the situation,’ Dr Hughes said.
‘But it is possible that we could see increases of around 20 per cent for some high demand products such as pasta and rice.
‘We are likely to see less discounting and more full-pricing so we’ll be paying the recommended retail price for our products rather than the discounted rate.’
Shoppers at Woolworths stock up on long-life goods and panic buying grips Australia
Price increases theoretically encourage suppliers to produce more and may even tempt new suppliers to enter the market because there is money to be made.
In theory, that would then see the supply increase to match demand – and prices would then come down again.
Meanwhile, in Denmark a crafty solution to panic buying has gone viral online. One store owner decided to charge $10 for one bottle of hand sanitizer and $200 for two.
In Denmark a crafty solution to panic buying has gone viral online. One store owner decided to charge $10 for one bottle of hand sanitiser and $200 for two