Anna Krien

In December last year, on the Great Barrier Reef, a mosaic of corals, sea anemones and giant clams began to emit a soft glow. Marine heatwaves unfurling across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans since the start of 2023 were being felt off the east coast of Australia, and on the reef the effect was like that of a dimmer switch being gradually dialled up.

During his time as a Northern Territory police officer, Zachary Rolfe desperately wanted to join the force’s Tactical Response Group, known as TRG, a paramilitary policing squad that gets flown into “high-risk” situations, usually clad in camouflage gear, carrying AR-15 assault rifles. In 2018 he had completed all the selection criteria but was passed over twice for other cops, whom, he told friends, he’d “beat” during the trials. It was the “new diverse world” at fault, complained Rolfe, meanin…