I've been having an email exchange about entrepreneurship in Australia, and I thought you guys may be interested. These are only my responses in the conversation.
Australia and investment
I think the recent re-explosion of web technology has come as a shock to VCs in Australia. US VC firms probably faced a similar situation, but they had a fair head-start in identifying the phenomenon, and are championing the way investment is being done in this area.
We're slowly catching up, with some web-oriented VC firms popping up, but still mainly Sydney-centric. After shaking off the 'dot-com bubble' fears, others are trying to morph their tried-and-tested strategy that worked for other industries, into one for the web industry, and messing that up badly. The lack of understanding of the 'new' web industry has resulted in the risk being perceived as bigger than it is. The demand for 5x ROI and reluctance to invest at all demonstrates this. That, and there has been no big success story in Australia in this area.
Also, I think Melbourne is more focused on being Australia's 2nd city more than anything else, thanks to our government. Sydney has long being Australia's financial capital, and they make sure they stay there. I like what Queensland Government has done with their 'Smart State' strategy ( e.g. the new i.lab incubator), turning Queensland from what was mainly a tourism state, into a knowledge, education and business state. Melbourne doesn't seem to do an awful lot, nor do they seem to have a particular strategy. It does have a habit of treating biotech somewhat differently however, investing a lot of money there.
All that said, I think Australia itself has an issue with investing in new ideas and research. Look overseas - those governments invested in maglev trains, smartcard ticketing (which HK has had for 10 years now, and we're only just getting the 'revolutionary' tech), desalination plants, solar power etc. years ago and are now reaping the benefits. And what do we do? Wait until it becomes a crisis, spend ridiculous amounts of money purchasing the now-outdated technology from overseas, then botch up the implementation so we spend even more money fixing it.
Maybe when I become a billionaire, I'll become an angel investor, and get Melbourne back where it should be - on top 
Australia and entrepreneurship
I think Australia has great potential to create some great things because of our isolation. It may seem like a disadvantage, but I think the isolation means we're not all thinking like everyone else, and that could mean we can think of and conceive ideas that no one else will. I don't think it's so much the invention stage that we get stuck at, instead we don't know how or don't want to risk our assets to commercialise it. And that's where the government, investors etc. need to come in and help. After all, who doesn't want to be a billionaire and change the world? 
My plans after making it big
I'd want to help out teenagers if I became an angel investor, to guide and maybe later invest in them. It's quite sad that even though we have more knowledge and tools than ever before at our fingertips, teenagers are still leaving high school with no idea what they want to do, some instead going down the disasterous road to drugs etc. I guess it's because of the way I think, but it seems so stupid that so many people start uni without a clue what they want to do, hoping that uni will decide for them (although I did that too, until I took this semester off to ponder). I mean, you're 18, you're old enough to make up your own mind, and old enough to be responsible for your contribution to the world. Stop procrastinating, sit down, and think about it. Take a gap year if that's what you need. It may change later, but at least you have a direction.
Then there are others who do know what they want to do, yet think they're completely helpless. I have a mate at uni who's really passionate about the environment, can tell you what he wants to do, and has a strong opinion on most things environmental. Yet when I ask him why he's not doing anything, he replies 'what can I do right now?' and goes off to play world of warcraft instead. You shouldn't give up your social life or all of your free time, but geez, there's more to life as a student than uni, work and entertainment. I really look up to what Hugh Evans, the Oaktree Foundation and Make Poverty History guy, has done and is doing - all that while studying a Law/Science degree at Monash.