The Prime Minister's former chief science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman says the last few weeks in lockdown had left "indelible marks" on our society and the immediate action against Covid-19 might have "been the easiest part".
Gluckman was speaking to the Epidemic Response Committee which is today analysing the social impact of the pandemic and the lockdown, which saw tough restrictions imposed.
The committee, chaired by National leader Simon Bridges, was set up to empower MPs to scrutinise the Government's response to Covid-19 in the absence of Parliament.
Auckland City Missioner Chris Farrelly, Women's Refuge New Zealand chief executive Dr Ang Jury, Wise Group joint chief executive Jacqui Graham and Police Commissioner Andrew Coster will also speak.
"The Government has done much that is very good under serious pressure, but this may have been the easiest part."
Many New Zealanders will have had their certain futures ripped away from them and that will mean an increase in fear, anxiety and frustrations will emerge, he said.
Gluckman said there would be a lot who are newly vulnerable, for example a 55-year-old travel agent now out of work and without a future, who would join New Zealand's large number already disadvantaged.
New Zealand needed to make sure we have "more inclusive discourse" about how we rebuild our future.
Gluckman, who now heads think-tank Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, said we were not yet at the peak of the distress from the lockdown - that will come in the next few weeks.
Based on other disasters, about 10% of the population would develop depression and there would be some who are suicidal, he said.
Marijuana was now the main way people are managing stress in South Auckland, Gluckman said he had been told.
The primary need now was to support the social services providing help and solutions to our communities and the focus had to be on how to mitigate the effects of the crisis.
Gluckman said Maori were disappointed and excluded by not being included in the room of decision makers and giving them a seat at the table would be useful.
Despite not being included, they'd done well with iwi providing food distribution and checkpoints, he said.
There would also be a "massive increase" in young people wanting to go to university and there'll be a big increase in demand from overseas students as New Zealand is seen as safe. Now was not the time to be shrinking our universities, he said.
The Government also needed to release more data to give people more certainty in uncertain times.
"The more that we can give certainty to the people, the better."
The Covid-19 crisis has created opportunities to fix two problems - homelessness and food insecurity, Auckland City Mission's Chris Farrelly told the committee today.
New Zealand has an "unacceptable" level of homelessness due to the housing crisis, but Covid-19 meant there was an unexpected supply of accommodation.
Telling people to isolate at home didn't work for people who didn't have a home. "Simple as that," he said.
About 1000 motels had been made available around the country for the homeless, in Auckland alone 415 rooms were used to house 490 people.
The challenge was to bring in a new tranche of wraparound services, like addiction and mental health expertise, to give people support while they were in temporary accommodation.
The cost to New Zealand was many, many times higher to have people on the street than it was to house them and give them support.
Ten percent of Kiwis experience food hardship and Farrelly believed that could rise to 20%.
During the crisis, people who'd never had to ask for assistance were now having to put their hand out.
Farrelly said a team sat behind him and took calls all day from people needing food and assistance. "It's unbelievably so sad."
New Zealand produces enough food to feed 20 million people but we needed to work out how we can feed our five million first.
Food was a fundamental human right, he said, and we needed to work out how to make sure the food we have goes "to the right people at the right time".
Food insecurity was caused by incomes not meeting household expenses and the recommendations from the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's should be looked at. They included ensuring a living wage and improving benefits.
NEED HELP?
If you are worried about your or someone else's mental health, the best place to get help is your GP or local mental health provider. However, if you or someone else is in danger or endangering others, call police immediately on 111.
• Need to talk? 1737, free 24/7 phone and text number
• Healthline: 0800 611-116
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