He'd previously been in legal strife for organising anti CCP protests at uni. Chinese state funding of tertiary education in Australia and the influx of fee paying Chinese students is a significantly important economic and political/strategic issue in Oz.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/23/austr...
Anti-China propaganda is so strong that some random dude who probably has never been to China nor Hong Kong and probably know very little about Chinese history and culture do all of this. This extremism is dangerous.
The likelihood of Pavlou swatting a Chinese embassy having himself been subject to legal action in Australia over his protests seems low to me. It would undermine almost all of his position.
I think your position fails on plausibility.
Meanwhile, what are the threats made to people who are neutral or pro-China?
So much anti-China propaganda.