In the last 60 years we have been told many times that the minerals industry is in decline and that some new industry is about to take over as Australia's new domestic and export industry driver. It has never happened.
What happens instead is that investment in exploration and mining is discouraged and the investment returns from mining go flat until the next "boom". The main result of this has been that domestic investment is driven out, and foreign owners gradually get control of Australia's resources, because they are nimbler in reinvesting when conditions improve.