The best technology companies are overseas and some of the better Australian companies have moved overseas. This has been largely due to the political attitude here, but lets leave that aside for now lol.
Australia has a comparative advantage in geothermal, solar and coal. The best investments will be those that exploit this and seek to develop export industries based on this advantage. The domestic scene is far less important in the long run which is why it is difficult to understand the resistance to carbon prices here. If a carbon price were to be adopted internationally, the country could benefit hugely - even our coal exports would most likely benefit as high quality black coal from here would supplant the cheaper, dirtier coals found in Asia. Creative uses of coal such as UCG, CSM, gas to liquids, will have an even greater role to play in emissions reduction.
Likewise our geothermal and solar resources could be used to turn our deserts into a center for the world's energy intensive industries - smelting, steelmaking, fuel production.
To me there are far more opportunities for the country (in global carbon trading) than there are negatives and I can't understand why politicians of all persuasions keep dwelling on the latter.
