We've been killing our industry since the 70's.
We dig the shit up.
Send it overseas for pennies.
They process it.
Then send it back to us for dollars.
Australia is the lucky country only because of our mineral wealth. We seem incapable of fully capitalising on it.
Because our mineral resources and higher education push our ecconomy up it means we can't compete with foreign countries cheap work forces (such as 1.2B Chinese who will work for rice money).
It has always been so - resource rich countries export to large population nations/centres which are resource poor. The alternative is conquest and colonisation.
The large population allows for a bigger, diverse and advanced industrial capacity. Think British Empire, Roman Empire, USA... China is just the most recent example. So long as the large population nation has food security. The bigger question how do we accomodate a rising China, when every time its happened in the past it has ended in a major global war.
The only way Australia can get a slice of that industrial pie is by focusing on cutting edge technology, or protectionism (which leads to nationalism, arms races and what not - which is why the international community agreed to gradually tear down protectionism post WWII). Or focus on service/financial sector - at least by investing in foreign growth the wealth comes back here.
Once the Chinese ecconomy modernises and their GDP goes up, their birth rate will slow, and their industry will go on to the next industrialising nation. We are already seeing it with growth in Vietnam and Indonesia.
You can't fight it, just adapt and move on.
