It's planned. Not the move towards China per se but in general.

• Ban something for a large group (A). There will be many complainers but the majority will still fall in line.
• Some, group B, will put in the effort to find alternatives. When you crack down on those, the people from (A - B) will not care enough anymore because it no longer affects them. This makes the crackdown easier.
• Repeat as necessary. Become more aggressive and authoritarian every time because more of the population has accepted the new status quo.

The next step will be to require all "social media" platforms to register in AU before they can be on the app stores. Then they will start expanding the definition of "social media" to include all means of communication. Every policy doubles as a trial balloon and they're always aiming for the same finish line.