Imagine if Australia applied its new no-dickhead policy on Novak Djokovic to government troublemakers

After the government suffered the ignominy of wounding, not killing, Djokovic on his arrival in Melbourne for the Australian Open a week ago, the immigration minister Alex Hawke was determined to stop the GOAT.

But if being arrogant, anti-science and an all-round jerk is grounds for the government to push the button on its extraordinary deportation powers, then perhaps we can look forward to the government doing more about similar characters domestically.

Has Alex Hawke chewed the fat with Alex Antic or George Christensen in the Coalition party room lately? They make Djokovic look like a veritable quiet Australian, what with their calls for civil unrest, and suggestions state health departments are involved in grand cover-up conspiracies.

The poor old Therapeutic Goods Administration has been pulling its hair out in frustration over the well-funded Clive Palmer misinformation campaign, which gets met with an official shrugging of shoulders when asked if the government can do anything about it. If only Palmer and Craig Kelly were non-citizens!

Government ministers themselves have been keen to dog-whistle to anti-vax sentiment, distancing themselves from controversial vaccine mandates when politically expedient to do so, and tacitly supporting freedom rallies that have targeted health restrictions.

But anyone who suggests the government is being driven by its fervent belief in good health and public order, and not by a desire for a much-needed political win in its strong suit of border control, has not been paying attention.