From knee-jerk reaction to policy At that time, frightened Asians believed that racism in New Zealand had reached a peak not seen for two decades, and was "worse that it had ever been." But they never imagined that not only would the hostility towards them not subside, it would turn from the hidden to the overt, and go from being an emotional reaction to becoming part of government policy.
當時，嚇壞了的亞裔以為紐西蘭的種族歧視達到了二十年來的最高峰，「沒有比現在更壞的了」；他們卻沒想到，反亞裔不但沒有極而衰，反而由私下轉為公開，由情緒的反應進而形成政府政策。