People used to call them “survivalists” or “doomsday preppers”. A few decades ago, these usually-rural types were figures of fun—or sometimes, if they were sufficiently armed, anti-government and active, figures of fear. The first awareness Australians generally gained of preppers was in US news reports or movies. These were not, in the main, friendly or positive depictions. Basically, all Hollywood did for its prepper characters was update redneck or racist roles from the Civil Rights era—just add a few pantries overstocked with canned food and you’re good to go. Things became a little more intense as the year 2000 loomed,…