Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Export prices for meat and logs tumbled in June as slower-than-expected Chinese economic growth impacted demand.

The ANZ World Commodity Price Index fell 2.3 percent month on month in June, but the meat and fibre index dropped 7.8 percent.

Infometrics Chief Economist Gareth Kiernan says weak demand across Europe and China paired with increased supply from Australia and South Africa created a 'perfect storm'.

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The local share market has had a lacklustre first half of 2023, but the tide may soon turn.

Milford Asset Management Portfolio Manager Sam Trethewey says investors have had a lot to digest this year, but the strong return of migration and dwindling rate hikes show a clear path forward.

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According to the Government's latest accounts, businesses paid 10.7 per cent less tax than expected in the 11 months to May.

The Crown received $2 billion less in corporate tax than the Treasury forecasted at the May Budget.

NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny says it's been 48 days since the Government delivered a forecast and being off target already is not a good sign.

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Over the last decade, the Fourth of July weekend has seen more mass shootings than any other time of the year.

A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest killed 5 and wounded 2 more in Philadelphia, 3 were shot and 8 were injured in Fort Worth, Texas and 30 were harmed at a Baltimore block party over the holiday.

US correspondent Katherine Firkin says July 4th is one of the riskiest days in the US, as mass shooters take advantage of the gatherings.

"There are mass gatherings everywhere. Every city in every state has these celebrations, people take their long holiday weekends very seriously here. I think if you are intent on committing violence, it's the perfect opportunity." 

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An author behind the revised science curriculum maintains that physics and chemistry will still be taught in the classroom.

The new draft focuses on contexts - the Earth system, biodiversity, food-energy-water, and infectious diseases.

Waikato University Senior Research Fellow Cathy Buntting says the new curriculum will repackage the basics in a context-based approach that teachers aren't used to seeing.

"There's a rich context that matters to our students in this time for their future. And the science concepts are absolutely included in there."

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Online grocery provider Supie is looking to open high-technology unmanned stores which will be open 24 hours daily.

The online alternative supermarket has been running for two years and delivers to Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua.

The plan is for an app to unlock the door of the store when a customer enters, with cameras picking up the items you take and the app charging your card at the end.

Founder Sarah Balle says the stores will be community based.

"Making it super easy so that you don't have to drive into town or to a city to access products that you'd normally shop in your top-up shop."

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New Zealand cannot arrest its way out of the gang problem.

That's according to a report by the Chief Science Advisory - requested to inform policy for reducing gang harm.

It instead calls for improvements in addressing related factors such as family harm, youth offending and drug use.

Co-author Tracey McIntosh says legal action over simply being associated with gangs causes collateral damage.

"That's largely with children and with women. And it means you have much more distrust in a community and those young people who you actually don't want to enter into a pathway of gangs actually feel that they have no other opportunity."

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Here’s hoping Police National Headquarters is listening to the Government’s Chief Science Advisor following her report into gangs.

Because by the looks of things... she’s taking a stronger position on gangs than they are.

This might surprise you, because Juliet Gerrard is, after all, the Chief Science Advisor to the Labour Government, who just got endorsed by the Mongrel Mob’s Harry Tam.

And it’s been a while since academia and the general public parted company on how to handle gangs.

But you might be pleasantly surprised to find you agree with her on some things, in particular when she said today: "We definitely need to tackle organised crime”.

To be fair- what she and the report are arguing is that police and authorities shouldn’t target gang members because they’re gang members, they should target them if they’re committing crimes.

Because if they just target the patch on the jacket, they only isolate the gang members more, fuel their distrust of authority, and bolster their numbers. But as the Chief Science Advisor has said, they must target organised crime.

The trouble is, that’s the opposite of what Police National Headquarters appear to be doing right now.  

Instead of cracking down on gangs because they’re gangs, they’re allowing gangs to get away with behaviour none of us would be allowed to get away with- because they’re gangs. 

Case in point: Ōpōtiki three weeks ago.

Where the gangs were committing offences in front of police and were not pulled up for that. The police stood by, taking photos and videos of gang members pulling wheelies and hanging out the car windows and sitting on the car roofs.

And the police will tell you that they are tracking the offenders down after the fact. About last count, they’d only impounded 3 cars and handed out 19 infringement notices.

And given that the crowd of gang members was 500 strong, I'm unimpressed.

I’m 100 percent fine if we take the approach recommended by the Chief Science Advisor. That we don’t target the gang members because they’re wearing a patch, and that we instead target their offending. 

Because that would be marked improvement on what we’ve got right now. Which is apparently letting them get away with the offending because they’ve got a patch on their backs.

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Oranga Tamariki is having a hard look at staff working in its youth justice facilities.

Four staff have been stood down for allowing an MMA-style fight.

The department is also dealing with sexual misconduct allegations against staff and youth escaping onto the roofs of two facilities.

Oranga Tamariki deputy CEO Tusha Penny, says the employment of those four staff is under review.

"We now know that there are people in this organisation that don't deserve the privilege of working with young people. And if they're going to harm them, we will be fair, but where there is evidence of it, there is no way they can work for Oranga Tamariki."

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A former Reserve Bank economist's dampening worries about a deterioration in the Government coffers.

Treasury's latest Crown accounts show the tax take for the 11 months to May was $2.2 billion lower than expected.

Meanwhile, debt is more than $5 billion dollars greater than anticipated.

Michael Reddell says we shouldn't overdo concerns - and forecasting is a tough game.

"So it's weaker than expected, but the big uncertainties that people are grappling with is- how quickly is the monetary policy tightening going to bite?"

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