At the RBA briefing on its monetary policy statement in Melbourne yesterday, the RBA’s head of economic analysis, Dr Tony Richards, stunned some audience members when he mentioned that mining sector investment would increase to around 6% of GDP in 2011-12. Given that it’s currently around 4%, and historically runs at around 2%, this is a huge deal. The federal Budget papers show this historic development in this useful chart:

There is no question that the impacts to Australia’s economy and society of the mining boom will continue unabated and may intensify (although it’s hard to imagine Perth awash with any more money than it is currently).