

Australia could become the next California - resdirector
http://www.economist.com/node/18744197

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adamtait
I appreciate that The Economist takes a hard line on the reality of
Australia's position, as clearly a comparison to California is wild. Last I
checked California's population was roughly double the entire country of
Australia, not to mention the vast differences in GDP and economy.

Australia has a lot going for it, but many problems that will hold it back.
Firstly, the Australian economy will live and die by mining. The Australian
dollar has been so low for so many years, that China (and others) have become
dependant on their neighbour to the south for a big chunk of their mineral
resources. This clearly swings the labor market in favor of low-education
physical labor. I regularly hear stories of miners in the backcountry of
Queensland or Western Australia earning insane salaries. If you grew up
outside the core of Australia's 5 major cities, there a good chance you have a
miner in the family and have been panhandling in the local rivers. In the
cities, you have been raised to work in mining supporting industries such as
finance, banking or insurance.

Australia does have a deeper connection with the major developing nations of
the world. Whether the conservatives like it or not, there are many chinese,
japanese, indian, brazilian, south african, thai, sri lankan, and many other
nationalities here. Many companies have done business in the countries of
South East Asia and Africa. Many even border on being philanthropic.
Furthermore, Australians are some of the most internationally travelled people
I have met. Nearly all of whom have taken extended multi-month trips several
times in their lives, and aspire to continue doing so.

Education has been a problem and will continue to be for some time. If the
mining boom ever tapers off, Australia will have a hard time recovering. In a
country of 23 million, the top schools of Australia don't have the same talent
pool to draw from as the US, UK or Canada. Thus, the resulting education level
is not the same. I know countless tech leaders that would list the ability to
recruit talent as the biggest problem they face. Many of the top tech
companies in Australia hire significant numbers of non-Australian passport
holders.

Furthermore, much of the top tech talent in Australia is moving to California.
I know countless friends who have chosen SF, simply after visiting once. I
don't blame them. If you want to be in the technology space, go to ground zero
for the technology world. If you want to be in mining, Australia might just be
best place in the world.

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nikcub
Australia does have an SWF, the Future Fund - it is one of the top dozen in
the world by size:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Government_Future_Fu...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Government_Future_Fund)

Although the current government would like to impose a new resources tax (and
a carbon tax) and spend it all as part of budget rather than banking it in the
fund (which was mostly financed by the privatization of national telecom)

