The Opposition Leader was this morning seen stopping shoppers at a local Coles in Brisbane, checking to make sure their trolleys included a suitable amount of patriotic merchandise.
Mr Dutton yesterday called for a boycott of Woolworths over its decision to de-range Australia Day merchandise, but said he wanted to go further. “I think it’s only right that we put penalties in place for any Australian who goes to the shops and doesn’t pick up a small Australian flag on a stick or a pair of blue rubber flag-thongs,” he said.
Dutton said that, if elected, he would personally check CCTV footage from all Australian supermarkets to make sure the correct purchases were made.
“What we want to avoid is a situation where someone comes into a supermarket, does their weekly shop, but doesn’t walk away with a packet of Australian-flag embossed paper plates and a plastic flag made in China”.
He suggested a grace period of a week, after which a minimum jail sentence of two years would be applied for anyone failing to buy merchandise.
