I suspected there would be a catch preventing me from buying a MacBook.

I damaged the screen in every laptop that I ever owned - either by creating pressure marks or - like in the most recent one - somehow stretching(either via temperature or flexing the surprisingly flimsy cover) the adhesive which kept all the LCD layers in place, creating a diagonal clouding pattern in the process.

My next laptop will be a framework because then at least I will be able to easily replace the screen once the inevitable happens.

After hearing about this issue I went to the Apple store and tried to intentionally crack the screens on the display units. Closed the lids on several units with items between the screen and keyboard. Flexed the screen in several directions. Nothing.

You need to do this several thousand times. Let's say you use your laptop 300 day a year and that you close the screen about 4 times a day. If the laptop is designed to withstand 2000 closes then your laptop will break after less than two years.

No.

The reports were spontaneous cracks after only days or weeks. And the tolerances were blamed because small debris caught under the screen would allegedly put undue pressure on the screen.

As the context of this topic is Australia, this isn't necessary. Warranties don't add much value compared to consumer law, which the vendor must comply with in Australia.

Anything I've ever had a fault not caused by me with has been replaced free of charge years after I bought it, including from large American companies like Amazon and Apple.

Neither of those MacBook Airs have a glass display, do they?

Nothing about the M1s is more fragile than before, just treat your things more carefully.