Amusingly you experienced those high prices only because of... regulation! AU gov banned fresh banana imports, so the market couldn't easily sort the problem. Other countries had stock and were ready to step in but were not allowed to do so.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/government-confirms-ban-o...

> Mr Howard told banana growers in north Queensland after the cyclone that he would not allow imports of fresh bananas until the industry got back on its feet.

> But he went further on the sensitive subject of importing fresh product, indicating the Philippines government's long push to export bananas to Australia may never succeed.

I mean, I guess the tradeoff is "keep bananas cheap" vs "keep banana industry alive in Australia".

Unless all those growers had cyclone insurance, in which case, yeah, probably should have let in the foreign bananas, right?

The issue was not of propping up a domestic industry, I believe it was of keeping out disease. So no, I don't think foreign bananas were going to be allowed whatever shape the industry was in.