There's a bit of hyperbole in this view. But highly-advanced Australia is about to pay the price for growing so addicted to a developing nation. Exporting natural resources led to the neglect and atrophying of other critical sectors. It's created a two-speed economy: Commodities-rich Western Australia and Queensland raced ahead on China's once insatiable demand for metals, while the rest of the country lagged behind. Now, even as mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto continue to ramp up production, the price for Western Australia's iron ore has fallen to $US115 per tonne - a far cry from the $US180 paid by Chinese steel mills when the Australian dollar was touching highs of $US1.10. Petty politics Now that the easy China-driven growth is drying up, how are officials in Canberra responding? With a maudlin and distracting political soap opera. On Wednesday, Labor ousted the unpopular Julia Gillard as prime minister in favour of her predecessor Kevin Rudd. Treasurer Wayne Swan, frenemies with Rudd, quit. The ill-timed game of musical chairs has Australians and outside observers wondering what these last three years were about. Rudd's comeback probably won't stop opposition leader Tony Abbott from winning an election scheduled for September.

Personalities aren't Australia's problem; policies are. Whoever is in power needs to focus intensely on increasing investments in infrastructure, education and training. They need to revamp a high-tax system that encourages all too many of the workforce's best, brightest and most productive people to seek opportunities abroad. Officials in Canberra must think creatively about spreading the benefits of the vast wealth being amassed by mining companies. Rudd lost his post three years ago in part because of his proposed “super tax” on their profits; Abbott might well want to revive the idea. Australia matters because it's in the vanguard of nations, rich and poor, who are grappling with how to adjust to a slowing China. As Chinese officials act to restrain runaway credit growth and rebalance the economy away from overinvestment and exports, China's growth is likely to be closer to 5 percent than 10 percent. This year's 28 percent tumble in iron ore prices since February is a harbinger of pain to come. So is the 11 percent drop in the Australian dollar this quarter alone. Australia is a microcosm of what awaits the world. How officials respond will offer clues to policy makers everywhere. The shockwaves caused by even modest attempts by China's central bank to clamp down on credit show how profoundly this downshift will affect the globe. It will result in slower growth from Japan to Brazil and slam industries like autos, chemicals, heavy manufacturing, energy and steel. If China needs to dump some of its $US1.3 trillion of US Treasuries to bail out state-owned banks, markets everywhere will quake.

Australia is a microcosm of what awaits the world. How officials respond will offer clues to policy makers everywhere. Reform path The key for Australia is to return to the liberalising instincts of the 1980s and 1990s, when there was no behemoth gobbling up resources at record prices. Opportunities for transitioning back to a non-mining economy abound. Boosting funding for research and development will create high-paying jobs in technology, science and education. Australia boasts great exporting potential in agriculture, medical supplies and high-end machinery. But progress in any of these sectors will require a level of political will and forward thinking that's been lacking for nearly 20 years.

“Our worry is that tourism, manufacturing and other trade-exposed sectors haven't been investing for years now, having been brow-beaten by the unrelenting strength of the currency and the diversion of resources into the mining sector,” says Ray Attrill, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank in Sydney. “So it's not obvious these sectors are in a position to quickly plug the hole from which the hissing sound of a deflating commodity bubble is emanating.” There will be a premium on policy flexibility. Nimbleness is everything. That means taking an even bigger step away from the budget surpluses of the last decade and increasing fiscal stimulus. For Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens, it means adopting a less-dogmatic attitude toward inflation trends. A Chinese swoon, after all, will be a deflationary event globally. Australia should indeed sell all the underground treasures it can to fast-growing developing nations. But in the long run, it's more important for the country to cultivate what's above ground. Australia's future lies in ideas, innovation and the ingenuity of its 23 million people - not in a China that's ripe for a crash. Bloomberg