There’s been a little bit of navel gazing around what led to Australia’s recent export of extremism and racial hatred to New Zealand. Remarkably, some for good. First and foremost, a healthy, young white bloke from Grafton, wealthy enough to travel around the world for years, supported by a loving, united family and with good job prospects, just threw more shade on Peter Dutton’s border protection mantras than anyone could in a lifetime. Even Senator Handful-of-Votes struggled to pull off his ‘migrants are to blame’ segue or to elicit much sympathy for getting egged. David Koch lost his stack with Pauline Hanson, and then sought forgiveness from Kyle Sandilands, no doubt because of Kyle’s underrated ability to communicate with intelligence.

But some things remain business as usual for Australia. For one, the predictable assembly of white commentators scrambling to redefine racism, as if they are experts on the issue. Mainstream media jumped in, first with the ‘battler bloke’ card, and when that proved too much, turned to a conspiracy theory about the consequences of stemming free speech. We were presented with the anecdotal experiences of a few young, attractive Muslim women, appropriately garbed, who likely volunteered their time, unpaid. Rest assured, their involvement will be appropriately transient. We, of the coloured contingency, excluded as we are from any meaningful or enduring social representation or voice, are reminded that we are always ‘the other’ and, at the whim of our hosts, can be turned from monsters to victims, and back again.