Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has likened an apology video from Johnny Depp and wife Amber Heard over smuggling their dogs Boo and Pistol into Australia to an audition “for the Godfather”.

Heard was handed a one-month good behaviour bond with no conviction recorded on Monday after smuggling her two Yorkshire terriers into Australia in 2015 while visiting her husband.

Mr Joyce said that he hoped the video released by Depp and his wife would help reinforce the message that Australia’s biosecurity laws were not “a joke”.

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When he was asked whether making the two stars record a video apology by the courts was a “bit of a slap on the wrist”, Mr Joyce said that he did not determine the punishment of the courts.

“The court determines the punishment of the court, so I’m not going to start being in contempt of court,” Mr Joyce told ABC’s AM program.

“What I can say is although I don’t think he’ll get an academy award for his performance, the fact that he did it … he looked like he was auditioning for the Godfather.

“At the end of it we’ve got a message that is going all around the world right now, it’s going off like a frog in a sock telling people that if you come into this nation and you don’t obey our laws, you’re in trouble.

“That’s what this is about, it’s making sure we keep this nation, protect our flora, our fauna and protect our biosecurity laws.

“Because it’s something, no matter which side of the political fence you’re on, in this nation, in our nation we take this seriously.”

Watch the video below.