"Not only this but we've discovered (hopefully not too late) that such heavy reliance on one country for so much of our goods and services may not be such a good thing."
Possibly the most important sentence in this essay.

Individual,

Go here to see a summary of our exports in 2019....
http://www.worldstopexports.com/australias-top-10-exports/

Our top manufactured export category was 'Machinery including computers' which was only 6th on the list and only 1.8% of total exports.
Stuff we dig up or grow makes up ~80% of all exports.

individual,
It's mainly services and what we grow. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exports_of_Australia

Putting things together isn't worth very much nowadays, as China took the value out of value adding.
We have become overreliant on China, but self sufficiency isn't a good solution. Encouraging the development of alternatives to China is. And for us the most significant of those is Indonesia.

I watch the ABC for stuff like Doc Martin; wouldn't dream of taking them seriously for anything non-fiction; although what they pass of as fact is too often fiction. Channel 7 after the main news is the way to go: helpful information, with no panic and exaggeration. No irritating little Scotchman.

Hasbeen,

SR and truth just don't go together.

Dear Hasbeen,

Pray tell of a single instance of 'lefty spin' created by the ABC news department during the pandemic.

Also let me know if you can flag a single instance of me being untruthful or non-factual in what I have put in this thread.

For instance did Trump say ""we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine." or didn't he?

Just because you whine about something does suddenly create it. Or to put it another way it ain't so just because you say it is so.

Anyway why are you so affronted with me giving direct quotes from your president?

mhaze & Aidan,
It'd be interesting as to which of these exports are actually cheaper overseas than what they cost here.