Australia may need fewer runways and more pop-up cycleways in the years ahead due to COVID-19.
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New analysis from Infrastructure Australia has shown how the coronavirus pandemic reshaped the nation's infrastructure needs.
Infrastructure Australia chief executive Romilly Madew said the traditional driver of infrastructure - net overseas migration - had been "paused" by the pandemic.
The Centre for Population estimates Australia will have 1.1 million fewer overseas migrants due to border closures.
This will leave a long-lasting impact on the Australian economy, including labour shortages in hospitality and agriculture, the age structure of the population and growth.
However Ms Madew said new trends had emerged because of the pandemic that would drive the need for future infrastructure investments.
Suburban areas experienced issues with internet congestion as around four million Australians began working from home.
Areas like Canberra, Melbourne, the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Adelaide saw a decline in internet quality as a result of the shift, research from Monash University-linked company KASPR datahaus found.
The pandemic also caused regional migration to surge by 200 per cent.
"The longevity of these changes is uncertain, however the impacts are likely to persist for some time as Australians continue to seek more affordable housing outside of the inner-metro areas. If this trend continues, we could see reduced demand for urban transport and increased pressure on broadband networks in regional centres," Ms Madew said.
This will mean governments will need to take steps to improve regional connectivity, fix mobile blackspots and help providers bring forward planned investments in 5G, Infrastructure Australia said.
More than 17.2 million telehealth consultations took place from March to June, with the Morrison government now looking to permanently add the service to the Medicare Benefits Schedule.
There was also a spike in the use of home medicine services.
However Infrastructure Australia said rolling this out on a larger scale would require investments to expedite the introduction of e-prescriptions.
Public transport usage fell to between 10 and 30 per cent of ordinary levels during the first lockdown, and has only returned to about 60-70 per cent of pre-COVID levels.
There was a spike in new and second-hand car registrations, which may suggest the shift to private car use may be locked in for some years, even as a vaccine becomes widely available.
This may mean governments need to consider ways to deal with increasing congestion in an environment where people are reluctant to use public transport for health reasons.
Infrastructure Australia said governments could consider road pricing reforms or pop-up cycleways to deal with the demand.
Governments could also look at introducing more on-demand or micro-mobility services.
On the flipside, investment in infrastructure like airport runways could be put off, as domestic and International aircraft movements fall dramatically due to border closures and caps.
There was also a 20 per cent increase in municipal waste, caused by more people working at home, higher levels of food delivery and online shopping.
This has placed extra pressure on the waste sector, which was already dealing with the fallout of China's import ban.
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There was also a rise in organic waste, partly caused by a surge in panic buying of perishable goods early on in the pandemic.
In Brisbane, organic waste rose 33 per cent between April and June, compared with 2019 figures.
Infrastructure Australia said governments may need to accelerate reforms in the space as a result, including policies promoting waste reduction and sustainable packaging, planning future waste infrastructure or improving resource recovery technology.
