The viral ad begins with a man repainting a towering concrete barrier. "Today marks 10 years since our once united nation was divided by the Great State Walls,” a TV presenter announces.

The year is 2031, and for reasons unnamed but assumed to be the coronavirus, Australia’s states and territories have gotten used to being cut off from each other. At one point, a young girl in New South Wales stares at the wall with scared eyes and asks her mother what’s on the other side.

"They’re called Queenslanders,” she says.