Public policy in the field of economic development in Australia is increasingly focussed on micro-economic reform and, particularly, on reform of the labour market. Over the very recent period some key policymakers have been pushing Australians also to rethink their perceptions of their socio-economic and geographical position in the world and to recognise the realities of the emerging economic order. The broad Australian business recipe is inappropriate for successful participation in the ‘third wave’ of capitalism which has shifted the locus of economic power to the Pacific region. The new recipes devised must not simply rely on deregulation but include reregulation of a more appropriate kind, with much greater emphasis on positive development assistance, on the diffusion and creation of new technologies and on a reform of institutions which retains the social protection essential to prevent the marginalisation of those who are adversely affected by the necessary transformations.