In addition to the extreme weather events that marked 2019 and 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had, and is continuing to have, an enormous impact on the lives of all Australians.
The pandemic has impacted how Australians use and consume infrastructure.
People travelled significantly less during the lockdowns, relied more on local infrastructure and shifted from physical interaction to virtual interaction.
Many of these changes are likely to remain as the pandemic eases, contributing to a new way of living and, as a result, of delivering services.
Education and transport are two examples of infrastructure sectors that experienced extreme behaviour change during this time, and where the impact is still being felt.
Travel bans during the pandemic almost stopped the arrival of international students completely, with enrolments dropping from 144,000 students in July 2019 to 40 students in July 2020.10
This significantly reduced the number of higher education enrolments, 32% of which were made up by international students in 2019, so there were repercussions for the Australian economy. Before the pandemic, the international education sector contributed over $40 billion annually, with over half this amount ($22.8 billion) spent in the wider economy.11 12
The transport sector suffered similar disruption. In the peak of COVID-19, there were dramatic reductions in public transport use as people opted to use personal vehicles. Public transport in most cities fell to 10-30% of pre-pandemic levels in the initial lockdown period before settling at around 60-70% in the second half of 2020.13