A hand places a New Zealand 20 dollar banknote into the front pocket of blue jeans. A vertical blue banner on the right side reads "The Bulletin.
This week brings some unwelcome changes for household budgets, as many GPs’ fees rise and Kiwisaver contributions are cut. (Photo: Getty Images)

The BulletinJuly 1, 2025

The July 1 changes and what they mean for you

A hand places a New Zealand 20 dollar banknote into the front pocket of blue jeans. A vertical blue banner on the right side reads "The Bulletin.
This week brings some unwelcome changes for household budgets, as many GPs’ fees rise and Kiwisaver contributions are cut. (Photo: Getty Images)

The annual July 1 reset kicks in today, with the launch of a new 24/7 online health service and changes to rental standards, transport fares and more, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin.

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Round-the-clock GP care goes nationwide

Following a pilot programme last month, people anywhere in the country can now see a New Zealand-registered doctor or nurse practitioner online. The new 24/7 digital health service, named Online GP Care and launching nationwide today, allows people to book secure video consultations for non-urgent health concerns through one of eight approved providers. Health minister Simeon Brown says the service is designed to give patients 24-hour access to healthcare, while easing pressure on busy GP clinics and emergency departments. Patients can get prescriptions, referrals or lab tests, and clinical notes are sent to their regular GP to ensure continuity of care. Some groups, including children under 14 and Community Services Card holders, will have part or all of the cost covered. Costs for adults without a card range from $69 to $99.

A new era for rental properties

Since it’s July 1, there’s a raft of other changes starting today, including the healthy homes standards, which are now fully in force for all residential rental properties – six years after they passed into law. As of today, every rental home must meet minimum requirements for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture drainage and draught stopping. Gabi Lardies has all the details of the new rules – and any loopholes – on The Spinoff here.

For tenants, this should mean a warmer, drier, healthier place to live. However, tenancy advisor Sarina Gibbon tells the Herald’s Anne Gibson (paywalled) the maximum fine of $7,200 per breach is too low to act as a serious deterrent for non-compliant landlords. The government says that while $7,200 is the maximum penalty, the Tenancy Tribunal can also award compensation and order the landlord to carry out work up to a value of $100,000.

Wegovy arrives on pharmacy shelves

Also from today, New Zealanders will be able to get a prescription for Wegovy, the weight-loss version of the diabetes drug Ozempic. Both drugs contain semaglutide, a substance that mimics a natural appetite hormone to help people eat less. Unlike Ozempic, which is approved here for diabetes (but widely used off-label in the US), Wegovy is specifically approved for treating obesity. It’s not cheap: patients can expect to pay between $450 and $600 a month, as Pharmac has yet to fund the drug – though talks about possible funding are ongoing, according to manufacturer Novo Nordisk, Stuff’s Michael Daly reports.

Wegovy prescriptions will be limited to people with a BMI over 30, or between 27 and 30 if they have related health issues. Patients must see a doctor for baseline tests and will need regular monitoring while using the self-administered weekly injection.

Higher costs for getting around and staying well

This week also brings some unwelcome changes for household budgets. As Stuff’s Bridie Witton explains, GP visits will get a little pricier for many patients as part of the government’s recently announced funding boost for primary care. Clinics that accept the full 9.13% funding increase have agreed to keep patient fee rises to no more than 3% – but some may opt for a smaller 6.43% funding boost, giving them more freedom to set fees higher.

Meanwhile, catching the bus or train in some parts of the country is also more expensive, as regional councils respond to new government directives to shift more of the cost burden to passengers. In Wellington, Metlink’s Snapper card fares go up 2.2% today and the popular off-peak discount drops from 50% to 30%. Christchurch commuters will see the Metrocard adult fare jump a massive 50%, from $2 to $3, starting July 7.

Changes to benefits and contributions

Several changes to government benefits also kick in today, RNZ reports. Parents taking time off work to care for new babies will see their maximum weekly parental leave payment rise from $754.87 to $788.66 before tax, with a small boost too for the minimum payment to self-employed parents. For people receiving Jobseeker Support, the rules tighten: the period before needing to reapply shortens from a year to six months, part of wider efforts to encourage more people back into work sooner. And finally, it’s a new year in the world of KiwiSaver, meaning the lower government contribution starts today – down from 50 to 25 cents for every dollar saved, up to a maximum of $260.72 a year.

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A syringe lies next to a realistic, brown prosthetic nose and lips on a beige background; an orange vertical banner on the right reads "THE BULLETIN.
Image: Getty Images

The BulletinJune 30, 2025

Inside the rise of injectables and the new age of cosmetic tweaks

A syringe lies next to a realistic, brown prosthetic nose and lips on a beige background; an orange vertical banner on the right reads "THE BULLETIN.
Image: Getty Images

From TikTok facelifts to ‘baby Botox’, cosmetic fixes are booming. What’s driving the quest for perfection, asks Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin.

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An age-old industry, a new face

Devoting a Bulletin to cosmetic procedures might seem a bit left-field, but with Alex Casey’s cover story on Botox leading The Spinoff this morning, it’s the perfect chance to take stock of how – and why – so many New Zealanders are choosing to change their faces. From a few discreet units of “baby Botox” to the full ordeal of a surgical lift, cosmetic medicine is broader and more accessible than ever. Just look at the global fascination with Kris Jenner’s new face, or the TikTok shockwaves caused by Michelle Wood, the American woman who recently went to Mexico for a frankly incredible face lift that cost her just US$14,000 (NZ$23,000).

It’s no wonder “cosmetic tourism” is booming, with places like Thailand luring New Zealanders seeking cheaper fixes than they can get at home. But as plastic surgeon Chris Adams told The Project in 2023, bargain shopping for your face comes with serious risks. “I have seen patients who’ve come back, who’ve had much greater costs managing complications than they would’ve had if they’d funded the surgery in New Zealand,” he says.

Is everyone using Botox?

While a Mexican face lift is a step too far for most of us, Botox is firmly in the mainstream – as Alex discovered firsthand. At 33, she’s decades away from needing (or wanting) major surgery, but the sight of lines starting to etch themselves onto her face led her to a cosmetic nurse’s office. “Also, every day on Instagram I see women twice my age with foreheads that look 10 years younger than mine and it makes me feel insane so yeah, no wonder I have fucking frown lines,” she writes.

In her piece, Alex talks to women who swear by injectables, women who recoil from them, and women – like herself – who feel both tempted and furious about the prospect. As she leaves the injector’s office, “I am bubbling with an incandescent fury that I don’t know where to direct,” she writes. “I am angry at the nice nurse for hurting my feelings, but I am angrier at myself for asking her to.”​

Read: Is everyone getting Botox without me? 

Selfies, filters and ‘Instagram face’

What’s driving this collective obsession? Part of the answer is in our pockets. As Julia Coffey wrote for The Conversation, selfie-editing apps like FaceTune and FaceApp give people a glimpse of a new and improved version of themselves with smoother skin, bigger eyes or sharper cheekbones. Cosmetic procedures offer a chance to make that fantasy self a reality.

And as Jia Tolentino explored in The New Yorker (paywalled), all those subtle digital edits are helping to create a new beauty monoculture: “Instagram Face”, which Tolentino described as “a single, cyborgian face… young … of course, with poreless skin and plump, high cheekbones. It has catlike eyes and long, cartoonish lashes; it has a small, neat nose and full, lush lips … it’s distinctly white but ambiguously ethnic.” What began with the Kim Kardashians of the world has trickled down through celebrities, influencers and selfie-editing apps to become an achievable (if expensive) aesthetic standard for women everywhere.

Social media – or something else? 

While social media is an easy villain, the real driver could be more basic: it’s simply easier than ever to buy a better face. As Martha Gill puts it in The Guardian, “it is more affordable, more widespread and more advertised. Another huge barrier to treatment is meanwhile falling away: stigma.”

That new openness is something Alex’s piece lays bare. For many women she spoke to, the deciding factor wasn’t a celebrity’s wrinkle-free forehead, but a friend’s. One got her first injections after complimenting a pal: “She said, ‘thanks, I get Botox’ – then I looked into it and started getting it too.” One user summed up how many of us feel: “So many of my friends get it, and it makes you feel like you’re in this race against time – and everyone else.”

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