Kingaroy’s toilet paper supply runs dry as Brisbane lockdown sends panic buyers into frenzy

Panic buyers have snatched up Kingaroy’s toilet paper supply, despite the South Burnett not being a hotspot.

Panic buying has returned to Kingaroy, stripping shelves bare of toilet paper. Photo/James Aldridge.

The toilet paper supply has run dry again in Kingaroy after a three-day lockdown was announced in Queensland, despite the Burnett region not name a hot spot.

Working as a full time carer for his grandmother and a cleaner for Woolworths and Big W, Nanango resident James Aldridge said he was “disheartened” at the sight of empty shelves when shopping for essentials this week.

“I understand we’ve got a lot of travellers and that sort of thing, and they have their needs as well, but they’ve got to think about the country folk, because we only do our shopping when we really need to,” Mr Aldridge said.

With many travelling long distances to get to their nearest supermarket, Mr Aldridge said it was important for the community to be considerate, especially since the region was not a hotspot location.

“I was speaking with a couple of customers yesterday and they said they only do their shopping once a month or once every five weeks,” he said.

“I went to Big W and I got the last big packet of toilet rolls there, and you should have seen the amount of death stare looks I was getting.”

Posting a photo of the empty aisle to Facebook, Mr Aldridge’s post was met with a great deal of frustration from the community.

“Well said, it's frustrating for those who do the right thing and then when needed the supplies aren’t available,” one resident commented.

“Seriously! Did they run out of all the toilet paper they stocked up on last time? Come on people grocery stores don’t close even if we go into lockdown,” another added.

Widespread panic buying was prompted by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Monday announcement that the southeast was on the verge of another lockdown after a woman tested positive to the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.

“Earlier in the week we noticed pockets of elevated demand in some areas of Queensland,” a Woolworths spokesman said.

“Pleasingly, demand has moderated and our teams are working round the clock to replenish stock levels across our stores.”

“We continue to monitor the situation closely and ask customers to be mindful of others in their local community by purchasing only what they need.”