the mining sector rose from around 2 per cent of gdp in the early 2000s, where it had been for much of the previous five decades to peak at around 9 per cent of gdp in 2012 / 13. or, to put that in dollar terms, investment spending in the mining sector in 2006 / 07 totalled $ 41 billion and rose to a peak of $ 136 billion in 2012 / 13. the reasons for the huge rise in investment spending in the mining sector have been well documented. in the case of iron ore and coal, it was a response to the large rise in commodity prices through the 2000s, predominantly driven by the emergence and strong resource - intensive growth of china. investment spending to increase capacity in the iron ore and coal industries accounts for around 40 per cent of the spending over the past decade ( graph 3 ). a larger share has been spent in the liquefied natural gas ( lng ) sector, which is not only a china story, with a large part of lng exports also destined for japan and korea. graph 3 many of these investment decisions, particularly in iron ore and coal, took place well before commodity prices peaked. these projects are large with very long lead times ; lng projects often take more than five years to complete. the investment decisions were predicated on prices much lower than those subsequently seen through the height of the commodity price boom. prices for iron ore and coal in australian dollar terms today still compare favourably with the level assumed when commissioning these projects. http : / / www. rba. gov. au / speeches / 2017 / sp - dg - 2017 - 11 - 13. html 3 / 13 13 / 11 / 2017 business investment in australia | speeches | rba since the peak in 2012 / 13, investment spending in the resource sector has declined as projects have been completed. as they have been completed, production has been ramped up and we are now seeing the benefits of that with large increases in resource exports. since 2007, iron ore export volumes have more than doubled and coal export volumes have increased by 70 per cent ( graph 4 ). the bank's assessment is that the vast bulk of the increase in production for these commodities is now behind us, with only a project or two still to be completed. lng is in a much earlier stage of the process. lng exports have risen by 75 per cent over the past couple of years and our expectation is that, over the next couple of years, exports are likely to increase

, or partnering with businessmen in projects that take advantage of the economy. in this context, therefore it becomes yet another duty of board members to also oversee that projects endorsed by the financial institution are not the kinds that facilitate the exploitation of society. it is my belief that any protection of the interests of the organizations cannot be done without the protection of the interests of society as well. the organisation can only survive if its customers are satisfied with its workings, and if the society accepts its actions. ladies and gentlemen, allow me to end my remarks by quoting a teaching from a very senior monk who is well versed in buddhist economic philosophy. he said that in order for an organisation ( corporation ) to grow sustainably, it must not exploit its employees, it must not take advantage of its customers, and it must not exploit society in which it thrives in. in so doing, the organization must ensure that it can also reward itself with a fair return so that the fruits of its labours can be fairly shared by every party concerned. thank you for your attention.