Wayne, now I understand your argument. Mining is the wealthiest industry in this country financed almost completely by overseas funding/investment and an industry, with the exception of a few, sends its profit directly off-shore. Mining in Queensland boasts 73 of the top 100 wealthiest people in the state. That's not a political statement, just fact. I didn't quite expect your question about employment (it is common knowledge) but what I meant is that the number of full time positions in this country over the past decade has fallen by two thirds. These jobs and more have been replaced by part-time work (in most cases less costly - think of bankers) but the overall hours worked per capita has reduced. Aging population comes into this as well, as does part-time working partners. This gives us a disparity between profit and wages where profit has increased at a much greater rate than wages and the reason why individual debt is now nearly twice what it was a decade ago. People have to borrow more now to pay for housing (and cameras) and other things.
When you talk about automation, yes, that's part of the issue and proof of that lays in the internet. For instance, people on this forum and elsewhere buy their cameras primarily over the web whereas 10 years ago they would go to a shop. If you think of major retailers that means the ten staff they use to employ are replaced by one person on the internet which ties back to my comment regarding employment reductions earlier on.
Your comment on the status quo and no longer being able to afford goods is literal, not evident in Oz yet but very visible in the USA with 10% unemployment and more bankruptcies per year than our entire population. There are more people in poverty in the US than populate our country but the rich are more wealthy. It is almost a certainty that we will follow to one degree or another over the next few years. Our per capita debt already tells us that and with relative wages dropping and costs soaring it can't get better.
Anyway, I'm not a doomsday person and I'm sure with good leadership this will rectify itself but we do need to consider overall where we spend our money because sending it off-shore just for the sake of the "best" deal isn't going to solve anything. Nation before self might sound a bit old fashioned but it is the truth.