China was a country with a command economy and a colossal reservoir of cheap labor living in rural areas and what they did was to invite the world to come in with its capital and modern technology to exploit that, initially through the creation of four special economic zones to be operated under the capitalist mode of production and for exports.
In a sense one can describe it as an economic model similar to what is called industrialization by invitation.
Decades ago, I heard a CEO of an American company asking this, which I think encapsulates the essence of the matter and its effects in the USA to this day including the emergence of Trumpism.: Why should a 16-year-old school dropout expect to have a car and a house when what he could do could be done in China at a much lower cost? .
Sorry, but the question is not about whether or not China benefit from such model of economic development, but whether or not such model could be, as suggested by you, imported to Australia, and my answer is no because for a starter we do not have an abundancy of underemployed people ready to move from our rural areas to any special economic zone dominated by foreign capital looking for cheap labor.
If you are looking for a better economic model than our current one there are a few available and below is a reference to one of them:
"The economy of Singapore is a highly developed free-market economy with dirigiste characteristics1. Singapore has been ranked as the most open economy in the world, the joint 4th-least corrupt, and the most pro-business1. Singapore adopted a state capitalist approach to economic development and nation-building2. This means that the government enters into business to create employment and generate profits2...
...Singapore relies on an extended concept of intermediary trade to entrepôt trade,[30][31] by purchasing raw goods and refining them for re-export in order to sustain its high levels of export-oriented industrialization,"
As to my comment that you found offensive, my apologies.
