A New Zealander has jumped to the defence of Asian students who were targeted in a ghastly racist outburst in Melbourne.
Footage of the incident, which was posted to Reddit on Thursday, shows an older woman hurling xenophobic abuse in the central suburb of Fitzroy.
The abuse was directed at a group of Asian women, who had been speaking among themselves in their native tongue while waiting at an intersection when they were confronted.
"Don't speak so loudly!" the woman can be heard shouting.
"Shut up. F**k off. There's so many of you, and you won't speak English - speak English! If I went to your country to work, I would learn your language."
One of the women can then be heard fighting back, telling her Melbourne is "an international city" and that she's a racist.
It's then that an onlooker waiting alongside them at the intersection chimes up in their defence.
"Don't listen [to her], because the majority of Australians and New Zealanders don't think like that," she can be heard saying in a distinctive Kiwi accent.
The footage then ends, and it's unclear whether the argument continued on after this point.
The Human Rights Commission has reported a surge in racist abuse coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic. It's proposing a survey of New Zealand's Asian, Māori and Pasifika communities to collect data of experiences of racism during the crisis.
Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon told RNZ that as alert levels drop, there may well be an increase again in racism at schools and workplaces related to COVID-19.
"I'm pre-empting that when our Asian kids go back to school there will be an unnecessary blame game. We have been actively associating with the government and schools, keeping them informed," Foon said.
