This author gives little thought to the consequences of ignoring the adverse long term effects of foreign investment.

Australia at present has unemployment and underemployment totalling at least 13%. We do not need foreign investment to put the bulk of those people into useful work.

The author, and anyone reading this article, would do well to read and understand what a currency issuing government could achieve if allowed to do so. The book The Entrepreneurial State by Professor Mariana Mazzucato would be a good starting point and two other pertinent reading items would be the blog report of Dr Stephanie Kelton's talk during November 2013 at The Field Institute meeting in Toronto, Canada which is available at;
http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/video-archive/2013/11/221-2524
and J D Alt's article Mobilisation and Money at;
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2013/08/mobilization-and-money.html

Once our political masters and the parasitic financial industries have accomplished the ruination of all our manufacturing capacity how long will it be before Australia can afford to buy from overseas suppliers the cars, refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, and air conditioners etc., that we need to maintain a reasonable standard of living?

Australia needs some long term economic planning and our current crop of politicians are not Chifleys and we haven't had anyone of that outlook and calibre for many decades.

We simply do not need foreign investors, pushing already unaffordable houses out of the reach of the middle class. Entirely unaffordable mortgage payments or rent, impact adversely on discretionary spending and the domestic economy, which incidentally, is still shrinking.
What does need to change is tax treatment of our own super funds, invested in visionary nation building projects.
These could be funded by the issue of self terminating, govt guaranteed bonds!
We have over a trillion in our own super funds, and the simple fact that most of this money heads offshore, to minimise or avoid tax, creates three risible outcomes.
The first is we lose this money as local/domestic investment, two, we lose any tax we might have earned, if this money were invested here, and three, we lose the growth prospects that could be ours, if we were just smart enough to understand, a tax free status for this money would cost us nothing!
However, what we need, and what these funds could build for us, if invested here, would be a very profitable and safe, very rapid rail service!
A dual lane inland canal, that quite dramatically reduces the distance and energy consumption, getting our goods into Asian markets, would quite massive increase our ability to compete for these markets!
A fleet of nuclear powered roll on roll off submersible ferries, would more than facilitate that!
Bulk freight forwarding, remains one of the most profitable business models of the planet! As does parcel Post!
Nuclear power, could make these vessels that fastest, and not needing to be refueled for twenty years!
Submersible characteristics, would mean an armchair ride; and that neither extreme weather or pirates, would prevent them from plying their ultra reliable trade, and indeed, allow them to utilise many of the favorable underwater currents, that flow around and through our oceans!
We just need to ensure these investments aren't lazy, or invested in residential housing, essential services, energy or capital or entirely non productive land banks, which need to be taxed out of existence!
Rhrosty.