Yes RObert, we have lost so much capacity, & experience in manufacturing techniques we did once have. Even worse, we have no knowledge or experience in new techniques.

It would take hundreds of millions in investment to be able to produce the just the plastic components before we could get back to partial self sufficiency.

Then of course, we could come no where near producing enough steel, just to build the equipment the mining industry need, let alone build that equipment. I wonder how many Holden V8 petrol engines, [the largest we make I believe] would it take to power a large coal mine drag line? It is a joke when you think of it.

We had better make sure we hold onto the car industry, if that goes there will be nothing left.

It could take a decade to ramp up our productive capacity, even to a level to sustain a 60s lifestyle.

Hasbeen it would not be a trivial exercise to resurrect manufacturing, especially if little or no planning or preparation had been done to allow for the possibility.

Much of the investment would have to be done if and when it's needed but a smart government would put some effort into working out what's required and ensure that if push comes to shove we are not missing some key piece of the puzzle needed to start up.

How much of our car industry relies on components we can't currently make here?

One thing that comes to mind is how long would it take to make the tools to start making electronic components if we were stating from scratch? Do we have any capacity to do that in this country at the moment and how much would it cost to have some capacity?

What's important to us that wears out over time and which can't be entirely made here by equipment which can be entirely made here?

If we have to start walking because of problems with fuel supply from overseas how do we produce and transport food to the cities (and if we don't do that what's the alternative)?

How easily could we adapt to massively reduced energy supplies and a lack of access to overseas manufactured energy efficient devices?
I'm using this as an example of something which I think we could use some leadership on, it's certainly not the only issue.

As a more difficult challenge for leadership how about the leader of one of the major political parties deciding to change the rules for how politics is played to something more deserving of respect. Take a moral stand against spin and lies and start being honest in their dealings with the public. Deciding that Australia deserves better even if it does go against conventional wisdom on how to win the next election.

R0bert

Where have all our leaders gone?

They went to UNIVERSITY and got a finger painting degree!

Great, huh?

I hate to disagree with such an agreeable person, Lexi, but I feel I must.

>>This could be a new direction - and this trend toward the questioning of party loyalties should not be unexpected in a modern society whose hallmarks are individualism and choice<<

Because it is a really comforting thought.

As is Anthonyve's reassuring "I think we're nearing the turning point of a cycle".

My doubts are based on the experience of the 'sixties, when the youth of practically the entire Western world was gripped with the feeling that people - individuals - could actually make a difference. We went on marches, we protested - in the US, college kids even died while confronting the "powers" with slogans of universal peace and love.

What happened? Significantly, it wasn't just that the enthusiasm fizzled out, but then a whole legion of ex-hippies went on to become poster-children for Wall Street greed. Not only did the resistance fade away, but the resisters became part of the machine they - allegedly - despised.

A survey of the attitude of today's young Chinese to the events of Tiananmen Square, twenty-one years on, would quite probably reinforce my theory.

I suspect our own breed of individualists will also become fodder for the conformist mill, once they have to face the reality of making some headway in the world, just as their flower-children forbears had to.

In the final analysis, the Party system is well-nigh impregnable. Especially considering that the power to change rests wholly with those people who benefit most from the perpetuation of the system.

"""
We went on marches, we protested - in the US, college kids even died while confronting the "powers" with slogans of universal peace and love.
"""

You can't do that anymore, Pericles, you're branded a terrorist, pepper sprayed to death and if that does get you they bring out the tasers and rubber bullets!

You gotta wonder why the founding fathers of America wanted all to have the freedom to bear arms huh? Wasn't such a silly notion after all!

There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead!

Oh I forgot! Now they can detain you indefinitely without a trial!