My understanding was that western capital couldn't wait to get into china to benefit from lax or non existant labour laws, very cheap labour, greater opportunity to cheat on taxes and to environmentlly shit on a communist country & its people.

@FrayedBear It's called Capitalism -- as we all know.

@David1955 Slavery?

@FrayedBear you've been reading your Karl Marx again I see. Good.

@David1955 not in my library or bucket list! Having lived in the same house as a lovely Welsh fellow lodger in Knotty Ash, Liverpool 50 years ago I learnt the futility of discussing politics with the left wing fanatics.

@FrayedBear Oh I don't know. I think you and old Karl might have really hit it off -- especially on Capitalism. Still has influence on me, perhaps now more than in the past. When I studied political philosophy in the 1970s it seemed like Capitalism had been ameliorated in the post WW2 era. The rancid feral toxic Capitalism that has emerged since that time proved that assumption wrong. Class and power -- the dirty words that polite society ignores but governs everything, including "classless" Australia.

@David1955 more ass than class?

Sadly I'm not seeing the oportunity being seized to create a new progressive post lockdown economy. Many are nowunemployed and sadly human nature is simply about preserving old privilege not creating equal opportunity for all.

To this end may I suggest that a return to decentralised business catering to local needs be promoted rather than theuge for centralised mega factory production. I have in mindthat each town of more than 25000 people, like in days of yore where most villages had a blacksmith, now we can have local factories making solar powered electric vehices to carry people around towns. Because of increased battery capacities these vehicles have greater ranges & can therefore be used in larger cities and urban areas that sprawl.

Australia no longer has its own car manufacturing. Therefore get rid of the dependence on foreign built cars by making it better to use lectric vehicles.

Naturally changes will have to be made as to how roads operate. Firstly many people will be needed to build changes. Existing roads need to be made safe for electric vehicles whether by duplication, segregation on existing road or by time sharing eg. 6am - 8pm is electric vehicles, 8-6am petrol.

Many other such ideas need to be identified and implemented. Countries like Cuba and South Africa remarkably found ways to cope when sanctions were applied - the benefits of not being sanctioned are just beginning to be cursed by many awakened by the Covid19 crisis.
Much open forum is needed to democratically allow the citizens not only to voice their opinions but also to be heard and acted upon.

@FrayedBear Weel, here in Broken Hill we do have one very progressive Cab Company and I am a regular user of it.
The owner has introduced, some time ago btw, the FIRST hybrid Taxi, i.e. Electric and Petrol driven, it is almost always run on Electric power and the petrol engine IS only used when the batteries get low and then only long enough for them to re-charge.
It IS exactly the same size as any Family Sedan, Australian made, extremely comfortable, silent and does not lack the 'pick-up' acceleration found in only petrol cars.
AS Jacqui Lambie said, We need to think Australian, be Australian, be self-reliant Australians and look to Australia First and foremost and I agre with her ideas 110%.
The time to initiate the very NECESSARY changes is HERE and NOW, no more dithering, pondering and farting around, Change NOW and Change for the betterment of Australia and ALL Australian Peoples.

@Triphid Exactly. Instead it seems that it will be back to the dependency on "mother country", USA/ Korean (US satellite) /English /Japanese cars & planes, China for all other goods particularly electronic.
Paul Keating was being sarcastically facetious when he called it "the clever country".

@FrayedBear WE are the people of Australia, we ARE those who richly deserve to have the FINAL say in how OUR country is run are we not?
Politicians and Governments ARE supposed to be there to SERVE and Follow the WILL of the Peoples,NOT have the People serve their will.

@Triphid Seems like most have forgotten!

@FrayedBear An amnesia of convenience more likely in my opinion.