So the motor vehicle manufacturing industry seems to be dying if not already dead. QANTAS is on the way out. Excluding mining and agriculture (thanks Clive and the Nationals) it seems that Australian industry can't hope for any government support.
So the question that needs to be asked is "are there ANY industries in which Australia can compete on a global scale without government support"?
The only thing we seem to be able to do is provide university education, but that will bite us on the backside when all these highly qualified Indians start offering technical support type services from India via the internet. It's already happening in IT, architecture, engineering etc.
Tourism will always be a smallish industry at best, and very vulnerable to global economic conditions.
I wish I could say that we have a natural advantage in science and technology - but not without government support of universities and institutions like CSIRO. It seems that 'brain power' is also very easily poached by other countries who are willing to pay scientists.

Are we really doomed to just digging up dirt and selling cows? And the rest of the population will just sit around on the dole buying cheap imported goods. Not very sustainable is it.