>> Though I will say the two car plants that design and build cars from the ground up are both closing.

They wouldn't be if Australia was on Mars. This illustrates a point. Low shipping costs are what's killing those plants. High shipping costs are an issue for Mars. They'll have to make their own in almost every case.

We can't rocket, semiconductor or aerospace

Australia used to be one of the world leaders in hypersonic flight research. That doesn't quite equate with Boeing/Airbus, or even Embraer/Bombardier, but suggests similar potential like with Russia.

… because successive conservative governments have cut funding for science, education, and support of technology entrepreneurs. The current government is doubling down on efforts to drive the middle and lower class from education.

Australia could absolutely have advanced industries like aerospace and semiconductor fabs if the regulatory environment wasn't directly hostile to those industries.