Calling Louise Upston: Your Ministry's 'Soft Kill' Culture Has Gone TOO FAR. You Need to Cease & Desist NOW.
Jordan Kelly • 6 July 2025

Upston's Active Greenlighting & Fostering of Her Ministry's 'Soft Kill' Culture Needs URGENT Challenge

I spent several years of the very early part of my career as Executive Officer - Communication & Information for the New Zealand Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA).


There, I added to my "soft spot" for animals and the elderly, a real activist protectionism of people with disabilities.


Among the many and varied highlights of my time with the DPA were the publication, in hard cover, of my very first book, Public Relations for Non-Profit Organisations in New Zealand, and the memory of the day a significant group of (something around 10) MPs embarked on a day's "getting around" Wellington in wheelchairs – taking the DPA up on its challenge to Parliamentarians to experience accessibility issues in the Capital, first-hand. (I note that, in more recent times i.e. 2018, then-Disabilities Minister Carmel Sepuloni and ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway, tackled Parliament Buildings as wheelchair-users-for-a-day.)


It was a real eye-opener for those 10 or so Parliamentarians, and I doubt that, thereafter, any of them looked favorably upon anyone who dismissed or took lightly the challenges of those with disabilities.


Upston's Role As 'Caretaker' of the Disability Sector


Fast forward to 2025 and New Zealand has one of the cruelest, most inappropriate selections of a Disabilities Issues portfolio holder that the current Prime Minister could ever have made.


Also the Minister of "Social Development", of the Community and Voluntary Sector, and of "Childhood Poverty Reduction", Upston appears to see no difference between those encompassed by these portfolios, and her previous role as holder of the Corrections portfolio.


Supposedly appointed to "care" about the welfare and wellbeing of the most vulnerable in our society, the first thing the "honorable" Minister did when she took office was to announce her overt contempt for the sector and those comprising all components of it by slashing funding support in critical areas, and seemingly revelling in the immense distress she brought down upon those potentially impacted by whatever they feared she was scheming next.


The Hang Over of Her 'Corrections' Approach to 'Social Development' & Employment


And she wasted no time at bringing her old "Corrections" portfolio approach to bear on other vulnerable sectors of the community - like those her Government's immediate slash-and-burn measures upon entering office relegated to the employment scrap heap . . . in an overall job market they also seemed to take delight in tanking.


I might have a sharp pen, but I have a soft heart. And I watched - with dismay and disgust - the press conferences of this Caricature of Cruelty as she stood, smirkingly, a little (or a lot) too close to the new PM (who, in turn, referred to her by what is obviously his pet name for her, “Lou”), as he and home girl announced their latest scheme to make the lives of the vulnerable as difficult and as fear-based as they could . . . including (as above) those with disabilities. (In other classic optics fails - of which there have been many - she strutted contemptuously past a protesting disability support worker, and arrogantly flung open the doors of power, thrusting a look back over her shoulder that said it all: “I belong in here . . . and you and your type belong out there. Ha.”)


In every press conference in which she announces yet another punishing measure for those already suffering, she barely even tries to conceal her cruel contempt – as she bobble-headedly bounces her noggin along to the PM’s latest announcement on her behalf.


A side note to the Prime Minister:


My question to Luxon would be this:


What was your strategy behind putting the very individual that has the greatest degree of open and active contempt for those directly impacted by her portfolios, in charge of those precise portfolios? If her contempt is as obvious as it is to the general public, there's no way you can have been unaware of it. Thus, for such a wilfully inappropriate decision, in my view you’re just as culpable for the degree of additional pain that has been unnecessarily added to the weight of suffering by these sectors and the living, breathing human beings comprising them . . . and to whom you seem happily oblivious.


So All That Is Background and Context. Now to Shine A Light on A Truly Corrupt & Sinister Culture.


Recently, I published an investigative commentary on some of what really goes on in the "higher offices" of Louise Upston's Ministry of Social Development.


In my June 18 article - The Heinous Secret Practices of An Unaccountable Ministry & Its Off-the-Chain Staffers - I wrote of employees and officials of an agency so heinous and so unaccountable in its culture, that it celebrates its ability to push its "clients" (read: beneficiaries, including the disabled) to the point of - and to the execution of - suicide. Yes, SUICIDE.


And they revel in it. Behind closed doors, these moments are considered "bell-ringing" moments.


When I first began uncovering these stories, I approached a friend of mine who has acted - out of the goodness of his heart - as a long-time support person for individuals fighting for their rights against this deeply corrupt institution. I had hoped he would tell me that the young woman I'd learned they'd pushed to suicide with fake claims against her (that they shamelessly later admitted staffers had faked) . . . that it was some terrible one-off and that heads had rolled and huge lessons had been learned from this tragic loss of life.


But no. Read that article, and you'll see that what he actually told me was this:


"Jordan, it happens frequently. It's their culture. It's considered a real achievement when they've been able to push someone that far." 


And you'll read how, in disbelief, I had asked him:  "But why don't we see these articles in the media every time, then?


And he had answered:


"Because the Coroner doesn't allow them to be reported on."


So you see just how deep the corruption runs. And the power of this Ministry. And the clear and present danger of the portfolio overseeing it, resting in the wrong hands.


Which, I contend, is currently precisely the case.


In my earlier article, I provide a summarised list of just SOME (some) recent examples of which I'm aware, regarding the bullying (especially financial and psychological) of beneficiaries (with seemingly a particular fetish in the culture for corrupt targeting of the sick and disabled) at the hands of some of these twisted Ministry staffers - who are actively encouraged and coached to exact these highly unethical practices.


In short, this proudly (and literally) “soft kill” culture that Upston oversees (and encourages) in her "ministry" has gone too far:  People are dying literally – at the hands of the despicable, twisted individuals whose behaviour she knowingly and perversely greenlights.


And to the residents of Taupo:


Is this really the type of individual you want representing you in Parliament?  As your “honorable” elected member?


I’d take a closer look at the true nature of the actual individual behind the title, if I were you. There’s got to be more human options available to you, come the next General Election. I urge you to investigate them.

You might also like to read . . .

The heinous secret practices of an unaccountable Ministry and its off-the-chain staffers.


The '5Ds': The plays and ploys New Zealand government agencies use to frustrate, stymie and roadblock you, the pesky KiwI citizens. citizen.

Other News, Reviews & Commentary

by Jordan Kelly 15 March 2026
Editor’s Conclusion : Unqualified. Unsupervised. Unaccountable. And Still Accredited.
by Jordan Kelly 10 March 2026
UPDATED: 10.3.26 Will This Badly Behaving Institution Finally Allow the Full Truth to Be Revealed?
by Jordan Kelly 8 March 2026
Hidden in Plain Sight: Unashamed Conflicts of Interest to Make Your Head Spin
by Jordan Kelly 4 March 2026
Time for Change : New Zealand's Pet Parents Say NO MORE to the Poor Standards, Compromised Care & Outright Contempt We Put Up With from the 'Products' of the Massey Veterinary Degree Factory
by Jordan Kelly 27 February 2026
Readers following the coverage of my attempts to get to the bottom of what happened to my beloved little papillon, Harry, with whom I was extraordinarily closely bonded, will know that: (A) The rot in Massey University’s Companion Animal “Hospital” (CAH) runs deep. (B) Honesty and transparency is not their policy. Denial, dismissal, stonewalling, legal threats and intimidation are. (C) Animals aren’t safe there, with cruelty embedded in “care”, and your property (as your pet legally is) not considered your property at all, as far as Massey, its CAH staff and management are concerned. Your pet is theirs ; to do with as they please, according to their mindset and their modus operandi. And if that involves catastrophic levels of unauthorised, contraindicated, convenience sedation to facilitate their use of your pet in monetised student video collections (including on private cell phones, and to which you will be given no access), this too, according to Massey, is its own God-given right and “best practice” Standard Operating Procedure. (D) “Informed Consent” has a very different meaning in the Massey playbook to that which is generally deemed its accepted definition. (E) “Accountability” is a foreign concept and not one with which they have any intention of becoming acquainted. (F) Laws – including those governing animal welfare, property conversion and more – are not only optional, in Massey’s case, they simply don’t apply. In fact, they appear blissfully ignorant of them according to my (and Harry's) experience. You know all that. You’ve read about it here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here and in most of my other now 30+ articles covering the numerous different sub-atrocities within the overall atrocity that was the demise and disposal of my precious little Harry. Actually, "atrocious" doesn't come anywhere near to being an adequate adjective. Despite having been a professional writer since I was 16 and having upwards of 25 published books under my belt, I don't actually have an adjective that's adequate for the pure evil that was perpetrated upon Harry . . . and, by extension, me . There is not one word or one phrase that can sufficiently convey the depth and breadth of the sheer, unadulterated wickedness that festers without restraint within the walls of Massey University's Companion Animal "Hospital". What you, my readers (or those of you not on Massey's massive legal team payroll) didn’t yet know – because I didn’t yet know – is that record and evidence tampering (which, for any other New Zealand citizen would attract jail time of up to 10 years under the Crimes Act 1961 Section 258 (Altering document with intent to deceive) or Section 260 (Falsifying registers) , and/or a $10,000 fine under the Privacy Act Section 212(2)(b) - appears also to be included in the “we’re exempt” culture of Massey and its veterinary “hospital” staff. Note to Readers: The above laws aren't some hypothetical, bottom-drawer, dusty old legal tracts in archaic library textbooks. They're real, "living" laws that apply to every individual in our country. And today, they are being made to apply to Dr Stephanie Rigg and her "colleagues" who falsified Harry's records to create a cover-up of what they did to him . . . and to me. I will, duly, see Dr Rigg and her associates in Court. Dissecting the Cover-Up: Massey’s Metadata of Deception But back to what readers do know for a moment: You’ll know that I’ve been in the battle of battles for the past two months to extract Harry’s full records (or anything approaching them) from Massey’s Legal and Governance department. HOWEVER . . . there was one thing I hadn’t known how to decipher that they actually had finally drip-fed to me. It was File Name: Patient Change Log (Field-Level Audit) . I’ve been learning a lot about veterinary science, record-keeping, and law in general lately. Not because I wanted to. But because if you want to figure out how deep the rot really runs at Massey, you kind of have to. So I’ve learned a bit about how to decipher clinical metadata. Just e nough to realise that this Patient Change Log (Field-Level Audit) is exactly where the digital fingerprints of a cover-up are hiding. Despite the fact that this document has as much redacted as it shows (probably more), with ALL staff names and positions blacked out, for example -I still found four distinct “smoking gun” entries in these otherwise heavily-redacted metadata logs. BIG. FAT. SMOKING. GUNS. that amounted to one undeniable overall conclusion: This document isn’t a clinical record so much as it’s a literal crime scene . There were already so many dodgy inconsistencies in the few items I'd managed to pull out of Massey to that point (as I've documented in various of my preceding articles). But this document is where, undeniably, the bodies are buried. You just need to know which clod of dirt to look under. Hidden in Plain Sight . . . In A Little Thing Called the Metadata (That the Average Pet Owner Wouldn't Even Know Existed ) There are four hidden but key findings demonstrating that the entire timeline of Harry’s “experience” in that hellhole were was orchestrated, and the sudden "neurological event/decline" exit strategy planned for him were a total fabrication. And that fabrication had a start time. (For this start time we will initially revert our focus back to Massey's previously-supplied "Clinical Summary" (in all its dodginess) . . . We will then lead from the immediately below into the afore-mentioned "Patient Change Log (Field-Level Audit)". Bear with me. I promise not to let this get boring). Well, one of two start times. Either: (1) The 8.38am disconnection of his (with, by-then, the TWO 750% overdoses of the renally contraindicated convenience sedative with which the "crying dog"-sensitive ICU staff had plied him overnight) now life-essential IV fluids (8.5 hours into the prescribed 24-hour protocol that they charged me for). And/or: (2) When the day shift ICU "vet" arrived at 9am and decided a THIRD 750% overdose would be a strategic way do deal with a clearly already massively overdosed little 3.8kg, 15-year-old, dehydrated dog. Now WHY would any vet take such a decision? Well, for legal purposes, of course (remembering that the Venerable Dean Jon Huxley and the obviously not- so-new-broom Vice-Chancellor Pierre Venter, have all the money in the public purse to pay their top-tier external legal counsel . . . and by gum, there are enough of the buggers, if this site's analytics are anything to be guided by), I will precede the following by stating that these are my conclusions, made on the basis of the collation and evaluation of the information before me. That said, what I know of my readers is this: You are no intellectual slouches. Feel free to let me know if you can come up with any other conclusion from the information (complete with now numerous "receipts") that I have thus far presented, most especially here and here , and most tellingly of all, in today's expose. R emember, though, I held the ultimate evidence in my arms at 6pm on December 1 . . . and, some 45 minutes later, I let them take it (safely, for them) away from me, just like Harry's (the literal body of evidence) life had just been taken from him. Little Numerals that Tell A BIG Story The plan for Harry's manufactured exit is not so much written into the records, as it is revealed by the tampering with the logs. They lay bare the lead vet’s apparent plan that his life would come to an abrupt end by the pre-scheduled time of (well, they couldn't quite get consistency in the logs regarding the exact minute, but by the absolute latest time of) 17:00 hours i.e. 5pm . . . assumedly, the end of the day shift on December 1. Just in time to mark him "Deceased" and seal off the records of this catastrophically overdosed patient, before the next shift came on, saw his records, and someone started asking the immediately necessary, and certainly appropriate, questions. And those questions would (0R SHOULD ) have included , but would certainly not have been limited to: How long has this dog been in this state? Why hasn't any rescue and remediation protocol been undertaken? Why was he given yet ANOTHER administration of 50mg of Gabapentin at 09:00 hours after the preceding two during night shift? Why is he disconnected from his IV fluids? Who approved that and why? (And if they knew he'd starred in a multi-video student film festival that morning): Was he taken out of his cage and handled in this state? When did he last drink? Was he given any food before he entered this near-comatose state? Does the owner know of the overdoses and the state he's in? Have you filled in an incident report? Have any emergency specialists been called in for advice? and, no doubt, many more questions. OR . . . maybe not. It depends if the rot in that ICU is fully immersive, or if it's concentrated on Dr Stephanie Rigg's day shift and the ICU shift staff of the preceding (November 30) night. But none of those questions could be asked and none of that could happen. The day shift - led by "Dr" Rigg ("Steffi") - wasn't about to let it happen. Thus, the pre-timestamped, just before end-of-shift, Time of Death entered into the "Euthanasia Authorisation" form that they had all queued up for me long before I ever arrived at that Godforsaken facility that fated December 1 afternoon.
by Jordan Kelly 17 February 2026
Harry WAS A Marked Dog. I Had Hoped Massey Vet Staff Couldn't Have Been Any More Wicked Than They'd Already Been Caught Out Being. But YES , Actually, They COULD . 
by Jordan Kelly 15 February 2026
This Is What Happens When Massey Thinks THEY Own Your Dog & Can Do With Him As They Please (You Just Pay the Invoice) At This Appalling, Unaccountable Veterinary House of Horrors (LATEST PROOF OF 'LAB RAT' TREATMENT HERE )
by Jordan Kelly 12 February 2026
FOR LATEST INVESTIGATION FINDINGS: GO HERE . My Precious Little Boy Died Needlessly, In Intense Physical, Mental & Emotional Agony . . . After Massive Overdosing, Intense Cruelty & Intentionally False Diagnosis by Massey 'Vet' (So Called) to Enable His 'Disposal' After Lab Rat-Style Experimentation
by Jordan Kelly 11 February 2026
While my focus is on the 750% overdosing of my precious little dog, Harry, with an unauthorised, contraindicated convenience sedative, his conversion from patient to live specimen, and the subsequent destruction of evidence (HIM), Massey’s focus is on deploying a taxpayer-funded legal hit squad to 'profile' me.
by Jordan Kelly 8 February 2026
An Expert Contributed Commentary (FOR LATEST INVESTIGATION FINDINGS, GO HERE .)
Show More