supermarket panic buying italy coronavirus
Supermarket shelves in Bergamo, Italy (Image: Wikimedia/Nick.mon)

In an uncharacteristically scathing address yesterday morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called the nation’s panic buyers “un-Australian”.

“Stop hoarding. I can’t be more blunt about it. Stop it,” Morrison said. “Stop doing it. It’s ridiculous. It’s un-Australian, and it must stop.”

Panic buyers now join a long, storied list of people and things that Australian politicians have decided are un-Australian, from left-wing activists, to head-butting Tony Abbott.

  • “Green criminal” animal rights activists who blocked traffic in the CBD last year — Scott Morrison (again)
  • Extinction Rebellion protesters — according to Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz in an interview with Ben “Fordo” Fordham
  • Lawyers representing refugees trying to settle in Australia — our Peter Dutton
  • An investigation of Melbourne’s Catholic schools by the Charities Commission — Bill Shorten
  • Boycotting Australia Day — former NSW minister for multiculturalism Ray Williams
  • Bill Shorten’s decision not to support the Coalition’s company tax cuts — Finance Minister Matthias Cormann
  • Personal attacks on former One Nation senator Rod Culleton — former One Nation senator Rod Culleton
  • Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes people “feel un-Australian because they’ve spoken their minds” — Tony Abbott
  • The University of Melbourne allowing gender segregation at Muslim events — Tony Abbott
  • A drunk anarchist headbutting Tony Abbott because he “wanted to nut the c**t” — Christopher Pyne
  • Unions telling passengers not to book with Qantas while their planes were grounded during an industrial dispute — former tourism minister Martin Ferguson
  • Disrespecting women — Malcolm Turnbull
  • Anti-capitalist protesters at APEC — John Howard
  • Communists and non-British immigrants — prime minister Joseph Lyons, back in the 1930s
  • The GST — Bob Hawke