Chinese imperialism and future Australian sovereignty

[stui magpie]

In case you missed it, the government isn't rolling out 5g coverage, the Telco's are.

While the feds have rightfully booted Huawei from having any involvement due to security issues, they aren't otherwise interfering.

[pietillidie]

^Good, because they mess everything up. Bad because it's critical infrastructure and needs serious coordination because telcos are as equally untrustworthy as this government. So, washing their hands of something they have just declared critical infrastructure by giving it to telcos with extraordinarily poor records of service delivery is hardly comforting.

Let's say 5G ends up okay. The dilemma is that the NBN does all the heavy lifting and underwrites everything, and they're still cleaning up that mess. Now, 5G enables you to create all kinds of interactive ecosystems, but this requires a highly skilled and innovative tech scene, which they strangled at birth.

Again, there seems to be no policy bringing these things together, nor an understanding of how they drive industry and job creation, and ultimately economic output. 5G should come up in discussion about the urgent need for tech innovation 20 times a day, and in relation to China once. But it's the absolute opposite, and that's exactly why the economy is so distorted.

[stui magpie]

When was the last time you were in Australia? There's a shitpile of Tech stuff happening, you just won't read about it in the Guardian.

[Tannin]

... for example?

[pietillidie]

When was the last time you were in Australia? There's a shitpile of Tech stuff happening, you just won't read about it in the Guardian.

Um, no. I get paid to know about the Aussie tech ventures, and have always supported them. You clearly have no idea what 'a shitpile of stuff' means in reality and global context. What would you like to know about your own tech industry? If it's in my area of interest, I can fill in some gaps for you. Would you be interested in some ideas as to how Australia can use 5G infrastructure to create jobs? Or perhaps some ideas on the skills and supports needed to move beyond the Glib mess?

Or have Facebook and Captain Hillsong covered all that to your satisfaction, along with Asian region policy?

[stui magpie]

Seriously, I own pot plants smarter than you. If you get paid to know about Australia's tech you're taking money under false pretenses.

[pietillidie]

^But you don't even know what I do, let alone what I may or may not know about tech. You know a bit about my policy thinking, such as on the NBN, the importance of tech industry jobs, and the need for a vigorous tech venture ecosystem. But that's just common sense based on known trends at the time of those discussions, not technical insight.

Unfortunately, positions taken in opposition to those views have led to Aussie tech ventures, entrepreneurs, careers, jobs, skills and know-how being severely under-supported, undermined and underdeveloped.

[pietillidie]

...hopefully one good thing comes out of this pandemic and thats that we take away the power we have given China over our economy, as you say here. Scary thought having China march through our streets and Parliaments. its about Australia called their bluff and found other markets, even if its not as profitable.

Well, some of us did vigorously advocate a broadening of the economy for years. But I will gladly get over that if people are genuinely serious about dealing with the problem now.

Australia's structural economic problems are not fundamentally caused by China, though obviously China is a major influence.

Four questions for you or anyone:

1. What is Australia's policy on China, and how will this reduce the chance of China 'marching through the streets'? (Agree on 5G, but that's not a policy platform, but rather a single decision on one critical piece of infrastructure).

2. What are the views of other regional nations and trade partners, who will have a major say in how things unfold, and how does this factor into your thinking?

3. How are Australia's regional trade partners, such as South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, who are right on China's doorstep, handling this problem?

4. What policies do you advocate for enhancing Australian economic broadening and creating new income streams?

[Tannin]

... for example?

Still waiting......

[watt price tully]

... for example?

Still waiting......

They’re producing Commodore 64 in Toke

[stui magpie]

... for example?

Still waiting......

Awwww, aren't you a good boy.

[pietillidie]

... for example?

Still waiting......

They’re producing Commodore 64 in Toke

[stui magpie]

... for example?

Still waiting......

They’re producing Commodore 64 in Toke

[think positive]

...hopefully one good thing comes out of this pandemic and thats that we take away the power we have given China over our economy, as you say here. Scary thought having China march through our streets and Parliaments. its about Australia called their bluff and found other markets, even if its not as profitable.

Well, some of us did vigorously advocate a broadening of the economy for years. But I will gladly get over that if people are genuinely serious about dealing with the problem now.

Australia's structural economic problems are not fundamentally caused by China, though obviously China is a major influence.

Four questions for you or anyone:

1. What is Australia's policy on China, and how will this reduce the chance of China 'marching through the streets'? (Agree on 5G, but that's not a policy platform, but rather a single decision on one critical piece of infrastructure).

2. What are the views of other regional nations and trade partners, who will have a major say in how things unfold, and how does this factor into your thinking?

3. How are Australia's regional trade partners, such as South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, who are right on China's doorstep, handling this problem?

4. What policies do you advocate for enhancing Australian economic broadening and creating new income streams?

getting back to manufacturing here for a start, find a better way to do things.

[pietillidie]

^Agricultural machinery was a strength when I last looked at the manufacturing numbers, which makes sense. But what you have to remember now is that manufacturing is being automated; the robots really are coming. So, you would grab an area like agriculture, and aim to lead high-tech machinery and clever IoT/sensor-driven automated agricultural systems (over 5G in particular).

It really has to be bold to scale competitively and attract capital, but the collective ag know-how across the country is huge, and the scale of ag is huge, so it can be done.

I'd be looking at ag machinery and ag tech, and combining that with geospatial/tracking tech, connecting it to ag logistics and out of port. An end-to-end ecosystem that allows tech companies and vendors to plug in and power parts of the whole, or something like that. That's the scope of what leading countries are thinking, although they're doing it more with cities first.

That programme could then help drive the national development of core skills such as digitalisation, big data architecture, and machine learning/AI, programming, design, etc. Do it across a few sectors (e.g., tourism and logistics as well), and you start to build up some real tech know-how. Other jobs then fill in around it.

With ag, you could then connect ag science into the same ecosystem, bringing the research side on board.

But note whatever area of manufacturing you look at, you've got to be thinking: sensors, networks, automation, robots, integrated research and knowledge platforms, integrated knowledge and learning platforms, integrated management and compliance platforms, etc. Think massive networks connecting geographically dispersed nodes of production, plugging in producers, resellers and specialists right along it as required. Don't think drivers, think drone room control operators or drone coders. The operating of the system and its parts will create many more jobs than will exist in what is traditionally conceived as production and manufacturing.

Automation of anything and everything is coming at a lightning pace, and once you connect all of these autonomous parts you have massive organic systems. That means autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, machine learning and algorithm crunching, system design, user experience design, project management, massive data management, huge cybersecurity demands, and of course developers building applications and interfaces that link in to provide special functionality, and systems people managing the architectural layers those applications sit on, etc.

That means many less old-school manufacturing jobs will be had than people realise. Basically, when you say 'manufacturing' now you mean 'tech that runs manufacturing systems'. The other business functions and jobs then fill in around that core work. But you're not creating anything new without it.