`“My only defence is to regress to 1985 and travel without a single electronic device, depriving me of my ability to communicate, my livelihood and to even call my airline.”`
There’s an easier way. Just buy a device and keep it in Australia, and cross the border without a phone.
If we just look at traveling, not really, only the English speaking ones and partially Russia, for now. No one will ask you for your passwords when going to China or the North Korea.
Just load it up with an emergency contact, your airline and flight details, the address and number of your (or any plausible) hotel, and that's it. If questioned, you can explain that you don't want to suffer the theft of private information, so you just travel without any. Do try avoid implying that they're the thieves you're most concerned about if you value your time.
You need to travel without your laptop too, which is (for me, at least) much more trouble to replace at the destination. I tend to just carry a Chromebook or a fresh OS install with nothing private kept locally. It's a bit more awkward to get stuff done while I'm away (especially on the plane), but I can mostly use remote resources if I have to.
There’s an easier way. Just buy a device and keep it in Australia, and cross the border without a phone.