And breathe life into rural townships that have nothing now that...

And breathe life into rural townships that have nothing now that manufacturing/production went the way of the dodo decades ago.

Future-proofing our country's self-sufficiency and robustness in the face of this and any other future pandemics, not to mention war (all our shipping lanes through Asia - first to go in any major conflict!), is something I am stunned none of our governments over the past 30 years have considered.

I'd love to see the government drop a lot of seed money and subsidies into getting Australian manufacturing and production back. Give extra incentives for those that set themselves up in rural areas, to try to build up rural communities/economies once more (even more important given the devastating toll the bushfires have had on these rural areas).

I'd back many Aussies in to happily buy Australian products on our shelves knowing that its Aussie know-how and Aussie jobs that they are benefiting.

Let's face it; our little import/export island nation cannot survive on an economy structured around tourism, education, construction and mining.