The coal and mining sector is continually criticised as being unsustainable, however, at the moment it is doing a very good job at sustaining the living standards of millions of Australians whether they work in the industry or not.
Taxation from Australia's largest 2311 largest companies increased $3.8 billion to $56.1 billion in the 2018-19.
The ATO found it was mining and energy companies that provided all of that increase with other sectors actually declining.
Mining companies accounted for $4 in every $10 in tax paid by big business in 2018-19, the ATO said.
The ATO admitted "mining has performed very strongly" and it expected mining companies to have another positive year in terms of tax payment in 2019-20.
Hogsback's back of the envelope calculation of mining's contribution to taxation comes up with a figure of $22.4 billion. That is not bad coin if you can get it.
It is also comes from tangible and hard assets - coal and minerals.
Unlike some countries, we can pay for our government debt because we have a viable and adaptable world class mining industry that pays the government a healthy load of tax and ensures the economy does not have to spend billions of dollars importing energy.
Despite the huge increase in debt taken on by the Australian government to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an increasing flow of tax dollars coming from mining.
We do not need to debase our currency by conjuring up money out of thin air through quantitative easing.
Maybe that is why the Australian dollar has been appreciating against the US dollar and other currencies over the past few months.
The mining sector is here to stay and it is a good corporate citizen that pays its taxes and increasingly ensures that it cleans up after it is finished with the job at hand.
One example of this is the Cooperative Research Centre for Transformations in Mining Economies, which has announced its initial 22 projects addressing key challenges around optimising ecological, economic, social and technical areas of mine closure.
This portfolio of "foundational" projects, valued at $4.9 million of cash and in-kind contributions from 74 partners, will build a framework for future mine-closure planning and largely be completed in 2021.
Backed with $130 million of funding from a broad collaboration of partners, CRC TiME is the world's first organisation focussed on bringing sustainable solutions to the issue of socially acceptable mine closure.
Hogsback reckons this responsible contribution to the environment and the ongoing economic viability of the nation through royalties and taxes will ensure the Australian mining industry has a solid future.
