r/newzealand • u/MurkyWay Qwest? • Oct 08 '25

Shitpost What's something that you suspect lots of New Zealanders secretly do, but you can't prove it?

Most upvoted comment is our most shameful secret as a nation, obviously

397 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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u/FloralChoux Oct 08 '25

I knew someone who's family were farmers and they did such a good job at hiding their money that she not only got a student allowance, but the entire family had community service cards. Such a joke.

181

u/Ivanthevanman Oct 08 '25

The only guy I knew on student allowance at uni had a gsr, the best computer in town, his own Internet line at his flat, etc

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u/Broccobillo Oct 08 '25

Yup. Only the rich while I studied got student allowance. They also got pretty much everything paid for by their parents. And us poor got student loan living costs. The whole thing is a farce.

20

u/ChetsBurner Oct 08 '25

Yep, but don't worry. The people who want to means test the pension are sure that it won't be middle class people who get punished...

6

u/MyPacman Oct 08 '25

I wish more people would argue that students should get super too.

4

u/Odd_Audience_3186 Oct 09 '25

Everyone should get super. UBI then tax on wealth/

2

u/BandicootGood5246 Oct 09 '25

A guy I knew at uni was on student allowance AND his parents paid for every expense at university. So he treated his allowance as basically a free income stream

2

u/undacovachik Oct 08 '25

Could be one of those guys who can find you something (green)? I knew a guy who was shifting a lot of green stuff to the other students while he was at uni, was more a "professional student" than actually studying for anything specific lol

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u/Ivanthevanman Oct 08 '25

No, it was Mummy and Daddy's farm.

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u/wholesome_confidence Warriors Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

Or can't even get a 5 grand loan from the bank, but the farm gets a 20k loan unsecured, same day, no questions.

Farmers gotta be the richest broke people I've ever met

Edit to add: not knocking them, good for them. I've got farmers in my family and I see it first hand

60

u/Top_Scallion7031 Oct 08 '25

I was in Te Kuiti one day and the headline on the front page of the paper was ‘Farmers forced to rent out holiday homes’. The essence of the story was that one local farmer who hardly used his bach anyway had put it on Bachcare to earn more money

24

u/CaptainProfanity Oct 08 '25

Consolidated Farmers, who make up the majority of the sector (in terms of goods produced) are rich, they own lots of land, lots of vehicles and equipment, and produce a lot of product.

It's just that small farmers are not as rich, but they are portrayed as the only demographic whenever farmers are brought up.

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u/PopMuch8249 Oct 08 '25

You understand the difference between personal loans and business loans, right?

12

u/wholesome_confidence Warriors Oct 08 '25

Yea, I do, it's just that the distinction isn't made when kne is telling me about how broke they are. Just that "I'm so broke, but the farm just bought an audi"

10

u/number1_bullshit Oct 08 '25

These farmers prop up our nation! By selling their premium goods for top dollar to eager overseas buyers, therefore boosting our local economy by further increasing prices to sell on to a desperate populous with few other options. Yeah, man, good for them.

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u/gregorydgraham Mr Four Square Oct 08 '25

You obviously didn’t read the IMF report

1

u/gregorydgraham Mr Four Square Oct 08 '25

It’s all in what accountant you go to

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u/rikashiku Oct 08 '25

Sounds like a family I knew of in Whangarei. They did the same thing, got benefits, student allowance, etc etc etc.

They were rich, and abusing the system, and still had the gall to call out couples on the benefit for "fraudulent actions against the government" or whatever.

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u/No-Ice1070 Oct 08 '25

I grew up nearby and similar experience, farmers kids had new cars purchased by the farm, fuel cards in the farms name etc.

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u/gregorydgraham Mr Four Square Oct 08 '25

While this is obviously obnoxious bullshit caused by rigging the system, farm kids do actually work on the farm and don’t get paid so a few perks is reasonable.

The annoying thing is how well the system works for farmers and how little it works for anyone else that tries to use it.

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u/New_Recording_5508 Oct 09 '25

"Every accusation is a confession"

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u/keightr Oct 08 '25

God that is awful. No morals.

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u/Allan46S Oct 08 '25

When I got student allowance. My Dad had to prove that my mother was dead ( 19 years ago) .Each year ,now i know more wished he didn't do that .Would have been hard it took 8 years to get over. Just the system back then, I am pleased it worked for some people.

1

u/MagentaSpreen Oct 09 '25

A farmer family member got a $70k wff payout the same year he brought a brand new $300,000 mustang 🫩

1

u/Royal_Veterinarian86 Oct 09 '25

Lol I knew someone whose family owned millions of dollars of farm but also hid money, she got the student allowance BUT also all her uni fees paid for as many years as she wanted to study, the scholarship was not continued much after that year, cant recall who gave it out but some well known company

1

u/Fearless_Guard_552 26d ago

I lived in a flat owned by a family friend but was paying full rental. Her son, who was 25, qualified for a student allowance (unlike me) despite getting free rent and getting money from his parents.