This is the last Chapter dealing with how a landuse affects the landcover of the Australian continent. It is the shortest Chapter because the story that has to be told is also short.

Even though this Chapter is short, the take home message is significant. The argument supporting the message is simple, but I am sure not all readers will agree with it.

Mining is a very significant activity within the overall Australian economic system. It has been an essential component of the past agrarian-based society and it will be a key, but smaller, player in the technology-based Australian society of the future. Mining as a landuse is here to stay.

Mining is regarded with suspicion by many, and by a few it is regarded, quite wrongly, as the source of all environmental evils.

The TV medium in particular almost always uses most unflattering footage as background to any news story that involves mining activity and the environment. This action does not necessarily represent a deliberate bias by the TV reporters against the mining industry. Rather, it is an indication of the chronic level of ignorance and superficiality in the environment area that abounds within this medium.