Australia’s political class is bewitched, bothered and bewildered by a fairy tale. It goes like this: Once upon a time, an honest, hardworking egalitarian country pricked its finger on a coronavirus – the malevolent curse of a wicked Chinese communist fairy. The only way it could be saved was by falling into a deep slumber until it was awoken by a handsome prince, armed with a vaccine, who would fight his way through the thorny briars strangling the borders.