‘Differently Abled' . . . & Definitely Able to Expose Oranga Tamariki; Ministry of Social Development Corruption

When social worker Graeme Axford, a long-time advocate for families fighting for justice against the corrupt culture of New Zealand’s Ministry for Children ('Oranga Tamariki') and Ministry of Social Development, was goaded by a Ministry staffer to go right ahead and write the expose he’d threatened (‘you’re a retard that can’t string two words together in the right order'), he had all the motivation he needed to do just that.

Actually, the slightly longer story is this:

He’d threatened to write a book after a tipping point event in which an Oranga Tamariki staffer who had lied to the Family Court about a family for whom he was advocating, had handed him an envelope she’d smart-assedly pre-addressed to the Office of the Ombudsman. She'd told Axford: “Go ahead and complain about me. See how far it gets you!”. Whereupon he threatened to write a book, exposing not only that staffer’s antics but also the broader unaccountability of the entire child “protection” system.

Axford (54) has lived with severe dyslexia all his life – but it was only diagnosed at age 30. He can’t spell (at all), read, understand the most basic number sequencing or tell the time, and gets the days of the week muddled in actual practice. He struggles daily with simple tasks like transacting whether in cash or digitally, and calling someone’s phone number.

And written communications, as one might imagine, are not exactly his strong suit. (Certainly, the many jeering managerial and other staff members of Oranga Tamaraki, the Ministry of Social Development, and their Parliamentary ilk, do have a point on that score.)

Debilitatingly Dyslexic . . . But A Steel Trap Mind & Razor-Sharp Verbal Skills

But, notwithstanding the frustratingly “different’ way Axford's neurological circuitry functions, the man has a steel trap mind – and can verbally and eloquently articulate as well as any academic or any senior executive. And certainly (ironically) better than many, if not most, of the Parliamentarians and Public Service staffers who have ostracised him so openly for so long.

First published in 2020, ‘Differently Abled’ is his story. This week, the first copies of Differently Abled 2.0 roll off his publisher’s presses. How did he achieve it? From the more than 10,000 families and individuals he has advocated (in most instances, successfully) for across three-going-on-four decades in their fight for justice against these two Ministries-gone-rogue, several came forward, proactively, with offers of different forms of assistance that made the unlikely project possible.

The book documents the long and winding road from Axford’s “challenging” school years (that, personally, I think are more aptly described as “tortuous”) through his work life (or valiant attempts thereat and the Ministry of Social Development’s multitudinous endeavours to openly thwart), and on through to the genuine social justice warrior he has ultimately become, as he’s selflessly and passionately committed the last 36 years of his life to defending families and individuals targeted by a child "protection" system, and a welfare system, gone totally rogue . . . and shielded, in all its roguery, by equally roguish public servants and politicians at all levels.

Differently Abled 2.0 is, now more than ever, far more than just Axford’s own story. Yes, it’s a very “up close and personal” story of endurance and a level of tenaciousness of which most could not conceive. But it’s also the story of a long and hard battle against government agency and Parliamentary malfeasance, as he’s striven on behalf of an ever-increasing number of families and individuals without the positioning, skills or resources they would have otherwise needed to fight the deeply corrupt and cruel establishment.

The book is the twisty, turny, gnarly tale of horrific actions on the part of agencies, social workers and staff who have weaponised the system against those it is supposedly intended to protect and defend. It’s the tale of intentionally in-built injustices and opportunism, the tale of managerial incompetence and staff malice. It’s the tale of public servants’ lies and total unaccountability. It’s the tale of unholy agency/Parliamentary alliances . . . and of one man’s dogged determination to expose them, break the nepotism and cronyism, and force justice upon the establishment.

Heroic endeavours while, at the same time, navigating life with his own personal severe but invisible disability.

‘THE AXE’

After decades of verbal abuse, ridicule and belittling by agency management and staffers alike, the 2020 release of Differently Abled 1.0 certainly signalled a turning point in the way the now-suddenly somewhat more revered Graeme Axford was viewed – and the seriousness with which he was taken – by “the establishment”.

“I guess you could also say the book has been a large and prominent middle finger in response to the years of ridicule and insults,” says Axford. “Simpleton”, “spasticated retard”, an “imbecile of the highest order”, a “genie-arse” and a “cerebral assassin” to recite just a few.

“It’s interesting, though, how I went from being a ‘spasticated retard’, to suddenly then a ‘vexatious, frivolous, vitriolic, nihilist who suffers from apoplexy’, and ‘a feral inbred with a lynch-mob mentality’ - per the written comments I've seen subsequent to my book's original publication.

"I’ll take those upgrades as a compliment. At least I’m worth taking seriously now!”

The publication of Differently Abled changed the tune of one official who had once advised him, 'Learn to read, write and spell before you even attempt to tell me how to do my job”, to “I saw your quote in the book about me and you’ve got a fantastic memory . . . so we’re going to have to watch you on that.'

“Nowadays, they're begrudgingly careful in how they speak to and deal with me,” Axford muses. “More ‘professional’ . . . because they’re worried that I might name them in any sequel, which I’ve absolutely threatened to do. And I meant it, too."

He says the only reason he’s refrained from naming specific individuals to date, is that “they’d use it against me to find a way to prevent me from representing my advocacy clients in dealings with those same staffers.”

Skilful & Shrewd Advocate

Truth be told, the powers that shouldn’t be, have been taking him seriously a long time since.

Axford can hold his own on behalf of those for whom he so skilfully and shrewdly advocates, against the seasoned lying of Oranga Tamariki staffers and social workers in environments from family group conferences, to the Chief Executive Advisory Panel (CEAP i.e. the final phase of the “complaints” system), to the Family Court.

Just some of the advancements he’s forced to be implemented, and just some of the injustices he’s forced to be righted, have included the actual establishment of the CEAP, the introduction of a central complaints database (in an effort to materially reduce the many complaints that were regularly allowed to “slip between the cracks”), and the exposures that resulted from the many presentations he assisted with to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry (2018-2024), and (as a result of the first of his six Parliamentary petitions, as you will read below) the triggering of the 2013 official review of the Child, Youth & Family complaints system.

And . . . in amongst all of that, is the between two and three families he has, and continues to, help each week with detailed, and usually in-person, representations.

Not A Brass Razoo

What should be mentioned before I go any further with this piece, is that – wait for it – Axford does everything he does in a totally voluntary capacity. He charges not a brass razoo to anyone. Ever. He wants nothing more than justice and an end to the corruption and cruelty metered out, unaccountably, by Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Social Development. And the blind eyes wilfully turned to it, by their Parliamentary accomplices.

But acting in the capacity of a McKenzie Friend in the courtroom to help those for whom he so passionately and selflessly advocates has been only a part of the journey and part of this very colourful, often entertaining and always-emotional, story.

Lies, Lies and More Damn Lies . . . That Come with Horrendous Consequences

Axford – himself the victim of horrendous actions by the Ministry of Social Development in the earlier part of his life, including but certainly not limited to, the active prevention of his being able to work in his chosen field with the full and proper recognition of his qualifications, along with some industrial-grade defamation – took up cudgels against the Ministry of Social Development and Oranga Tamariki, when (following the shocking and unnecessary removal of a child from his wider family circle), he increasingly witnessed the malice-driven actions of many staff and management members of these two institutions.

Having had his eyes opened to the “workings” of these outfits, he welcomed the invitation he received, in 1989, to be part of a West Coast advocacy group that acted on behalf of community members who needed help navigating or defending themselves against any facet of bureaucracy.

The fuel that fanned the fire in his belly to run his ongoing marathon and fight his mammoth “David vs Goliath” battle against an abusive, corrupt bureaucracy, started way back then . . . with the litany of hidden horror stories his advocacy work uncovered – one horror case after the other, unceasingly.

By way of a singular case example, one family for which he was advocating against Oranga Tamariki, involved the family’s concern about the honesty of the social worker. The family and Axford had asked that everything in a key interview be recorded and a transcript be provided to them. When Axford and the family received the transcript, he and they could see it was highly inaccurate, so they asked for the actual recording. Oranga Tamariki refused.

With Axford’s guidance, the family applied, under the Privacy Act, for the release of the audio recording.

“The Privacy Commissioner referred the family to the Ombudsman’s Office, saying it was more appropriate to apply for the recording under the Official Information Act," Axford explains.

“The Ombudsman said the Privacy Commissioner was wrong and sent us back there. The Privacy Commissioner disagreed with the Ombudsman’s office, and returned us to them, the Privacy Commissioner restating his original stance that the matter fell under that alternative mandate.

“Then both of them said the whole matter needed to be escalated to the State Services Commission, on the grounds that it was more of an integrity issue than a privacy Issue (the irony being, how could that be proven, without the recording to demonstrate the discrepancy between the recording and the subsequently provided transcript?).

“In the ultimate irony, the State Services Commission said it was an employment matter relating to employee conduct, and sent us back to the very agency we were complaining about i.e. Oranga Tamariki.

“So the end result was nothing, because by the time we went through this entire debacle – three years – Oranga Tamariki had conveniently destroyed the recording. Or so they claimed.”

There were no small ramifications to this whole scenario: The incorrect contents of the transcript – which the family claimed was seriously falsified – was intended for use in a Family Court hearing that would decide whether the children of the family would be removed from the parents and taken into custody.

Which is exactly what had happened: six months after the production of the falsified transcript, and therefore only six months into the three-year circuitous run-around by the above-named agencies, the two children (ages 3 and 5) were erroneously and malfeasantly removed from two loving and competent parents, and remained in foster “care” for six long years, during which time they were severely abused and intentionally traumatised throughout.

Six Parliamentary Petitions from 2011 TO 2019

In amongst all of this, and as a subset of his 36 years of dedicated service to the cause, Graeme Axford has presented no less than six petitions to the New Zealand Parliament (between 2011 and 2019), in an attempt to address the systemic failings in accountability and transparency – with which this horribly weaponisable child “protection” system is riddled.

His first petition met with (in theory) great victory: He campaigned for the overhaul of the nonfunctional Child, Youth & Family (CYF, later renamed Oranga Tamariki) "complaints" system.

Prior to 2017, CYF had been a sub-department of the Ministry of Social Development. It was then spun off and made a stand-alone agency, as part of a (superficial) re-branding strategy. That meant, in that earlier era, the MSD had had the ultimate responsibility for CYF and its complaints system.

You see the problem.

So Parliament ordered the Howard Broad Review. A former police commissioner, Broad was appropriately scathing of the existing “complaints review” system. His work produced a detailed set of recommendations to address it; none of which were ever implemented.

“It was an overt demonstration of the complete 'law unto themselves' nature of these agencies, at the highest managerial levels, with Parliamentary hand-in-glove nepotism and cronyism,” says Axford.

“There was no intention by the agencies to implement any improvements, and no Parliamentary will to force them to. They simply acted as though Broad’s report did not exist.”

Why?

“Because if there was a functional complaints system, they’d be opening up the floodgates to complaints that they could no longer – under a truly functional system – ignore or leave unaddressed.”

False Hope After False Hope

The 2017 spinning off of CYF from the Ministry of Social Development (and the "creation" of "Oranga Tamariki") had been sparked by a hope that the new agency, with the new name that this strategy justified, would help peel off the country’s ready memory of Child Youth & Family’s deeply scandalised reputation.

“It didn’t work, this very transparent change-of-name strategy,” Axford says. “It was the same people doing the same things they’d always done. Changing the signage outside the building achieved nothing.”

So further petitions ensued, continuing to highlight the issues Parliament doggedly claimed they couldn’t see or that couldn’t be addressed.

This section of Differently Abled lays out the utterly shameful manner in which Axford’s severe dyslexia and associated challenges with the production of written communications, was opportunistically capitalised upon by the parties.

From Parliamentary personnel to the Ombudsman himself, perverse pleasure was repeatedly taken in continually dismissing Axford on the basis that they couldn't understand the written form in which they'd forced him to make his presentations.

The detailed written form in which they'd insisted he must present his case (bearing in mind they were all acutely aware of his severe dyslexia) was reinforced by also refusing him to supplement this material either in-person, via Zoom, or via phone-based verbal presentations (which, they knew, would have put him on at least an even footing with them).

The opposition, however, was of course allowed to present in-person . . . and trudged teams of agency personnel up to Wellington to do so.

After a final tally of six petitions over eight years, repeated opportunism surrounding his personal debilitations, and the evaporation of the Broad Review, Axford could see he would get nowhere by continuing with the petitioning strategy.

A Chance Meeting with Former PM, Sir Geoffrey Palmer KC

He flew to the capital to meet with an internationally renowned human rights lawyer who agreed to take up the fight.

In an astounding "crossed paths" moment, while walking up Willis Street in Central Wellington on his way to said meeting, Axford spotted former Prime Minister and human rights lawyer Sir Geoffrey Palmer heading towards him from the opposite direction.

With a two-page summary of his six petitions fortuitously in hand, Axford accosted him.

Sir Geoffrey’s telling response?

“New Zealand is really good at doing reviews, reports and inquiries, but no good whatsoever at implementing any of them.”

Since Axford's six petitions, and after long battles using the Official Information and Privacy Acts, additional information has finally been unearthed that allows him to prove, inarguably, that the Ministry of Social Development and Child Youth & Family intentionally misled Parliament in response to those petitions.

“It’s provable that they were 'economical with the truth', and in a good number of instances outright lied. And I want it corrected, as a matter of record,” says Axford. “Let’s see where we go from there. You never know with Parliament, but it’s incumbent upon me now to go back to them with what I’ve managed to finally officially uncover, to give them the opportunity to do the right thing.”

The ‘Wellington Bureaucratic Mafia’

The “sad” aspect of all of this – says Axford – is that “there actually are quite a lot of very good, very ‘human’ employees” working in New Zealand’s 53,537 full-time public service roles.

And whilst, to be sure, there are bad eggs throughout every agency at every level, taking advantage of the unaccountable and often malicious broader culture (as Axford’s book spells out in detail), a great many lower-level personnel have little to no idea of the part they are unwittingly enacting in the playing out of the counterproductive “5D" modus operandi engineered within the inner governance sanctums of the agencies and the Parliamentary environment.

"The employees of a country's public service are paid by the taxpayer to serve its citizens, and at all times to act in their best interests," he says.

"However, the reality is that, in vast majority, the institutions paid to 'care' for New Zealanders, and the watchdog agencies whose sole role is to keep those institutions competent, honest and accountable, are working day in and day out, to achieve exactly the opposite.

"They are working, in fact, with the underlying – and in many cases, shamelessly overt – objective of ensuring the New Zealand public is NOT afforded due 'care', 'justice', or the rights and redress that represent these watchdog agencies’ very reason for existing.

“An analogy might well be – beyond just taking in each others’ washing – they’re actively, on a daily basis, obscuring each others’ dirty laundry from public view.

Next Career Move Attempt Could Be with An Agency They Were Meant to Help Prosecute. Not Gonna Happen, Is It?

“But what else would you expect in a centralised, ‘incestuous’ environment in which employees are ever-cognisant that their very next attempted career move might see their CV tabled before the management or HR of the very agency they just helped prosecute or bring to justice.

“Bottom line: In the NZ Public Service, it ain’t gonna happen.

“They know if one goes down, it can bring the lot of them down. If they were to uncover the wrongdoings of a particular agency or its staff member, they’ll then find there’s a lot more wrongdoing behind that i.e. staff covering for staff, covering for staff, covering for staff.

"And behind that, an entire culture of denial and unaccountability – reaching to the highest levels.

“Like an octopus, the tentacles of Wellington can be seen woven through this rampant, long-established modus operandi.”

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Yes, Please, VCNZ's Liam Shields, I WILL Have the Names You Have Been Obligated to Extract from Massey for the PAST THREE MONTHS

by Jordan Kelly • 29 March 2026

The story of how unspeakably cruel, unaccountable, intentionally unnamed staff at Massey University's Companion Animal 'Hospital' repeatedly overdosed, abused, tortured, covertly converted private property (my pet) to a University "educational" resource to produce twisted student films on cell phones , while plotting to deceive me, Jordan Kelly, into believing a false sudden "neurological event/decline" diagnosis to coerce me into signing papers for my beloved little papillon, Harry's, immediate "euthanasia" , has now reached all corners of the globe and every shore and region of New Zealand. So too has the corrupt relationship between the national industry "regulator" (so-called), the Veterinary Council of New Zealand, and Massey University, as the two interlinked organisations have scrambled to rely on the same old tactics and strategies that have worked seamlessly for them for decades . . . to see them arrogantly and summarily dismiss complaints from pet owners - one after the other, after the other, after the other. Neither organisation nor the broader cast of characters involved in this sordid ordeal bargained on coming up against Harry's owner, however. None of them bargained on this owner's love and dedication to her beloved little Harry. None of them bargained on this pet owner's unwavering tenacity and investigative chops. And certainly none of them bargained on the entire series of articles this owner has now produced (and is yet to produce) - both across this public ation and in the newly-launched International Institute for Improvement in Veterinary Ethics. But most of all, none of them bargained for the international, and full-scale national, deep-dive readership I'm sure, by now, they've heard through their various channels, they're receiving. Daily. Increasingly. Obsessively. Those readers - the ones that aren't monitoring institutions, regulators and veterinary sector participants, but rather are my fellow pet parents - care deeply about what happened to Harry (because they've expressed it in submissions through this website), and they most certainly care about their own pets and educating themselves to ensure against any fate even approaching Harry's, from befalling them. It's for me, for them, and for Harry, that I hereby publish my response to the belated, buried, and begrudging Veterinary Council of New Zealand's (VCNZ) offer to source the names of those involved in the matter, from the recalcitrant Massey University. If this matter were continued under cover of darkness, as both the VCNZ, and the " leadership " and staff of its veterinary teaching facility (the facility they have the gall to misname "Companion Animal Hospital") would vehemently prefer it was, it would get no further than the 1.5% ( not a typo, that's one point five percent) of complaints that ever make it through the VCNZ "process" to any form of resolution (which probably isn't much, anyway). So in the interests of shining light into dark and seedy corners of New Zealand's veterinary sector, here's my March 29 letter to Liam Shields, the VCNZ's Deputy Registrar, in response to his March 19 cover letter that accompanied the Privacy Act information disclosure he and his CEO, Iain McLachlan, gave up only through legal obligation . . . and that, as you will read is, even so, both redacted and incomplete. March 29, 2026 To: VCNZ Deputy Registrar, Liam Shields Dear Mr Shields Thank you for your letter of March 19, 2026 and the accompanying Privacy Act disclosure. On your offer to assist with the provision of names and position titles: In response to your offer to source the names and position titles of all involved parties, I accept – with the requirement that this be a complete and unredacted list, not a partial or selective one . Specifically, and as a matter of primary urgency, I require the unredacted names and professional roles of every individual at Massey University who had any involvement whatsoever with Harry Kelly – including but not limited to: Every clinician, intern, student, and support staff member involved in his "care", “treatment”, handling and any and all associated decision-making processes, during the period of November 30 and December 1, 2025. The above category of requirement must include the licensed veterinarians that (a) the rotating intern, "Dr" Stephanie Rigg ( who misrepresented herself to me as a seasoned, senior veterinarian ), should have been supervised by, and (b) the licensed practitioner that was or should have been responsible for the intaking staff member (who I am advised by another aggrieved client of the facility - but whom is too frightened to speak out themselves because of Dean Jon Huxley's legal threat to me for doing so ) also bears the name of "Stephanie". It should be noted that I was almost certain at the time that she (the very young "Stephanie" i.e. her name was not known to me at the time) was lying when she assured me she was a graduated and fully qualified veterinarian in her own right. Given what I know now about the lack of experience and ethics with which the Companion Animal "Hospital" is staffed, I am even closer to being fully convinced that she was not a qualified vet, but rather, still a student. As I had commented in my published article , 'Massey Vet Teaching Hospital: Where Empathy Goes to Die' , this staff member looked barely old enough to have been out of high school, was clearly out of her depth, and not only had no authority over the two ICU attendants (who were engaged in social conversation and refusing any attention to Harry as he stood up in his cage screaming in terror with his legs dangerously, especially for a blind dog, outstretched through the grid of the cage door ), and despite my pleas, refused to exercise any authority over these ICU staff. In retrospect, it would seem now that this very young woman was not in a position of qualified authority to do so. Clearly, Practice Manager Pauline Nijman has at least conjoint responsibility for staffing rosters, but there must also be - in a veterinary teaching establishment - present, direct reporting chains in place at all times. If this was not the case during Harry's admission and time in the "ICU" facility, then the two licensed practitioners bearing ultimate responsibility for this failure (including its obvious systemic nature) would be Jon Huxley, the Dean of the Veterinary School , and Jenny Weston, the Dean of Massey's Veterinary Teaching Program . I place particular emphasis on this point purely because - given the Veterinary Council's already-demonstrated protectionism towards, and degree of collusion with, Massey University, its leadership and its staff - I firmly believe that you will take the opportunity to disingenuously optimise every possible technicality to avoid accountability for as many staff as you can. Every individual involved in the selection or administration of any drug or substance to Harry Kelly during that period, whether authorised, and whether documented / recorded, or otherwise . The "undocumented" and "unrecorded" element of this requirement is especially important, given Massey's continued refusal to release the Controlled Drugs Register and, in fact, its outright breach of the complete Official Information Act request of which this was a key part. To be noted, and as I made clear to Massey, I have asked for this critical document due to the demonstrable difference in Harry's condition showing between the multiple covert student videos taken of him on cell phones that morning (in outright contempt for my firm verbal and written instructions to Practice Manager, Pauline Nijman, and on forms, that Harry should NEVER be used as a training tool ) and when he was presented to me some six hours later with the ( what I now know to be just an intern's ) demand that he be "euthanased" (and the fact that the "Clinical Summary" records his last (unnecessary contraindicated sedative over)dose as having been at 9am (i.e. 1.5 hours prior to the student activity for which he was obviously further catastrophically sedated and permanently disconnected from his critical IV fluids). Every individual involved in, present during, or who authorised or participated in any filming or recording of Harry Kelly during his time in the Massey facility. Every individual involved in making, documenting, or communicating the bogus “neurological” diagnosis (that has been clearly demonstrated to have been bogus ) used to coerce his “euthanasia ”. (So as to avoid my inadvertently creating a opportunisable loophole either for you or for Massey, you should include the alternative term that will have been used in the official narrative no doubt framed for your benefit and for his, by the compromised Veterinary School Dean Jon Huxley i.e. "recommended" "euthanasia".) Every individual involved in the decision to push for the “euthanasia” of Harry Kelly, and in the carrying out of that “euthanasia”. Every individual involved in the handling of Harry Kelly's body following his death ( achieved by way of abuse, scheme and deception ) on December 1, 2025. Every individual involved in the creation of, adding to, alteration of, falsification or scrubbing of Harry Kelly's clinical and financial records , specifically including but not limited to: · The Clinical Summary ( the broader contents and claims of which, it should be noted, are inconsistent with (a) the facts, (b) prior records, and (c) logic (including between one part thereof and another, and have clearly been altered and added to posthumously) – in which a false neurological diagnosis narrative was constructed to justify the coerced "euthanasia" . (To be noted, this is not the only false inclusion in this "Summary" document .) · The Patient Change Log (Field-Level Audit) – in which the recorded time of death (false in its own right) was subsequently manually overwritten with 0:00, in a deliberate act of forensic scrubbing to eliminate the timestamp from any future audit or investigation. · The Euthanasia Authorisation form – pre-typed before my arrival at the facility and prior to any decision I was prepared to make , bearing timestamps inconsistent with the Patient Change Log. · Billing Record 636969 – in which a billable quantity was manually inflated from 1.6 to 4.0 units at 16:56 on December 1, 2025 – two minutes after the falsified time of death – and further manipulated through to approximately 19:20 on the same date. · The simultaneous triggering of both "Deceased" and "Discharge" status entries in the clinical records management system – mutually exclusive administrative statuses whose concurrent activation constitutes a documented administrative collision revealing the fraudulent closure of a live patient's file i.e. in a frenzied rush to avoid the new incoming night shift staff from questioning or investigating the day's events. · The manual "data scrub" of December 3, 2025 – performed two days after Harry Kelly's death by an individual with high-level system access, deliberately overwriting forensic evidence to obstruct any future audit, investigation or legal proceedings. All of the above conduct is the subject of Police Report OR-2484821N and engages Sections 258 (altering a document with intent to deceive), 260 (falsifying registers) and 219 (theft by conversion) of the Crimes Act 1961 (updated as part of the Crimes Amendment Act 2003). I note that Privacy Act 2020 Principle 11(e) permits this disclosure in order to uphold a statutory regulatory process, and that Massey's blanket redaction of all clinician identities is being utilised to subvert my right to file a VCNZ complaint . I further note that a Senior Standards and Advice Officer and Solicitor at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (UK) - an accrediting organisation of Massey - has confirmed in writing that veterinarians are expected to provide their names to clients so as not to prevent them from raising a conduct concern. This is an obligation that applies regardless of whether the individual is employed by a university or a private practice. On the Apparent Glitch In Your Correspondence I note that the Privacy Act disclosure includes email correspondence between Massey University and the VCNZ — specifically, a private email from Massey's Dean of Veterinary Science, Jon Huxley, to VCNZ leadership, characterising my complaint as "wholly unfounded" before any investigation has been conducted, and ending with a friendly invitation for you to contact him for his, i.e. the apparently official, version. Your letter makes no reference whatsoever to the VCNZ's response to receiving that email, either at the time of receipt or in the period since. Quite frankly, it would be a naive individual who would believe that you and/or your CEO, Iain McLachlan, and/or your point of direct connectivity between the two organisations, Seton Butler, didn't respond to - and, far more likely, enter into communication with - Dean Jon Huxley as a result of receiving that email ( signed " Jon " ) from him. I require a full account of the actions the VCNZ took upon receiving Dean Huxley's private communication, who else received it, and all subsequent communications and related discussions and decisions - which, I suspect, included the two anonymous parties with whom you and your VCNZ colleague, Jamie Shanks, discussed me and the matter, but refuse to disclose any details thereof. On the Redacted Microsoft Teams Message I challenge your refusal to disclose the content of, and the parties to or discussed during, the Microsoft Teams message/s between yourself and Jamie Shanks. You have redacted the names of two individuals on the basis of section 53(b)(i). However, given that at the time of that communication you had not assisted me with the provision of names (and still have not) nor in any other way helped me with submitting a complaint (and still have not) - and therefore had no complaint formally before you (and still have not) - I require to know: who were you discussing me with, in what capacity, for what purpose, and on whose instruction? I would appreciate the full name, role, purpose and nature of the communications involving those undisclosed individuals and the undisclosed content of the associated discussions. I am considering a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner regarding your refusal to disclose what is likely a communication or communications central to the likely compromised and collusive nature in which you intend to avoid, refuse, frame, conduct or dismiss my forthcoming complaints. On the Internal Contradiction In Your Letter Regarding Conflicts of Interest Your letter contains a direct contradiction. In your paragraph 11 you state that Professor Jenny Weston "has no involvement with CAC (Complaints Assessment Committee) investigations and decision-making." Yet, in your paragraph 12 you state that "the Council are legally required to review all CAC decisions". Professor Weston sits on the Council. Therefore Professor Weston is involved in reviewing CAC decisions - including any decision relating to my complaint about Massey University i.e. the institution whose veterinary academic program she directs. Just saying, Mr Shields. On Your Suggestion That I Contact Massey University for Assistance Am I to interpret this as outright contempt, or gaslighting, or both, Mr Shields? I do not believe that, at this stage, you are ignorant of Massey’s refusal to provide the names of the parties required for me to lay complaints with the Veterinary Council. I do not believe that, since you have been copied in on two months of repeated, multi-angled, fervent requests to Massey , which - as you know, and as you know I know - is obligated legally, morally, and by international “best practice” standards to provide these (and not to have blacked them all out, in the first instance, from the subset of records I have managed to extract), as well as in accordance with New Zealand's Privacy Act 2020 and the Official Information Act 1982 . . . the instruments of our country's law through which I have so far unsuccessfully sought their release. I also do not believe you are ignorant of all the associated coverage on this website that details every minute aspect of this situation and its current status, Mr Shields. And if you are, it is to your shame, Mr Shields, given the gravity of the matter, including each and every individual, reported aspect thereof. Further, I do not believe I need to explain to the Deputy Registrar of the VCNZ why directing a complainant back to the demonstrably obstructive source entity of their complaint for assistance is entirely inconsistent with VCNZ's stated mandate of "having timely and transparent processes" and "upholding veterinary standards to protect people and animals". On Massey University's Ongoing OIA Non-Compliance Additionally, Mr Shields - since you are now, belatedly, offering - yes, there is something else you could absolutely assist me with. As you know and further to the above, the Official Information Act 1982 is the cornerstone legislation governing the mandated release of information held by publicly-funded institutions in New Zealand. It is an errant institution, contemptuous indeed of New Zealand law, that thumbs its nose at its OIA obligations . . . which, as you know, and as stressed above, is exactly what Massey University has done. I am still waiting for any communication regarding my OIA request that was due on March 13, 2026. Given your close relationship with Massey, and your no doubt desire to assist me proceed in a timely manner with the laying of multiple complaints - in keeping with the VCNZ's own stated objectives of "upholding veterinary standards to protect people and animals", "having timely and transparent processes", and its vision for "Aotearoa to have the world's most trusted veterinary profession" - I would expect you to be most amenable to urging Massey to act in a manner conducive to those objectives. As a reminder of the information I await from Massey - all directly relevant to the content of the complaints that need to be formulated for your organisation - the outstanding OIA items include but are certainly not limited to ( the below is excerpted from the OIA request also published here , as you’re of course, already aware): 1. Identity of Clinicians: The unredacted names and professional roles of all staff involved in the "care", treatment, and handling in any way of Harry Kelly during the November 30 and December 1, 2025 period, and also in the period following his death on December 1, 2025, including all staff involved in the handling of his body. 2. Conflict of Interest Disclosures (Seton Butler) : All internal records, disclosures, and management plans regarding Seton Butler's dual role as a Massey University Adjunct Lecturer and his professional advisory role at the VCNZ - and all communications of any type relating to Jordan Kelly or Harry Kelly. (**I DO BELIEVE THESE SHOULD HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN YOUR OWN PRIVACY ACT DISCLOSURE PACKAGE TO ME, BUT WERE NOT.**) 3. Instructional Content Authorisation : All internal documentation, ethics committee approvals, or funding agreements related to the production of "instructional content" or clinical studies in the ICU or any other part of Massey University and/or its Companion Animal Hospital during the period of Harry Kelly's admission, and including while his body was in Massey's possession. 4. Pet Farewells Communications: All communications with Pet Farewells regarding Harry Kelly and Jordan Kelly. Specifically, not a general commentary. 5. Post-Mortem Activity : Disclosure of whether or not an unauthorised post-mortem was performed on Harry Kelly. 6. Controlled Drugs Register: All entries in the Controlled Drugs Register pursuant to the Medicines Act 1981 and the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, as they relate to the dispensing, administration, or recording of any controlled or prescription substance administered to Harry Kelly during November 30 and December 1, 2025, or to his remains. 7. Patient Record Access Log and Audit Trail : The unredacted Field-Level Audit Log and all associated system access logs identifying every staff member who accessed, viewed, created, amended, "updated" or deleted any entry in Harry Kelly's electronic patient record from November 30, 2025, to the date of Massey's response. 8. Conflict of Interest Disclosures (Jenny Weston) : All internal records, disclosures, and management plans regarding Dr Jenny Weston's dual role as Massey University Academic Program Director and her ex officio VCNZ membership - and all communications of any type relating to Jordan Kelly or Harry Kelly. 9. ICU Video Footage of Harry Kelly: The release in full of all video footage taken of Harry Kelly during his ICU admission on November 30 and December 1, 2025, and any taken after his death. Massey's previous refusal to release the footage in full is not considered adequate compliance and is not accepted. In Conclusion, Mr Shields I remain deeply concerned about the VCNZ's refusal to perform its mandated role, and about the appalling complaint uphold rate documented in the VCNZ's own published research - co-authored previously by Professor Weston herself - which recorded that, over a 24-year period, 67.2% of complaints were either not investigated at all or were dismissed outright, with a mere 1.5% upheld, and only then, on technical competency grounds . Combined with the unashamed reticence you have shown with regard to facilitating this egregious complaint (and regarding which your March 19 email directs me to your website to fill out a form regarding), I intend to hold the Veterinary Council of New Zealand publicly accountable for a transparent process in this particular case. When a veterinary "hospital" and its staff overdose , abuse, torture, conduct twisted student activities upon while in a state of the pharmacological collapse they have induced him into, intentionally engineer his most unnecessary death , and coerce me under false diagnosis to not only consenting to my dog's traumatic killing but having to equally traumatically participate in it , I tend to take the matter rather personally . As quite a large proportion of pet owners, in fact, would. Between The Customer & The Constituent NZ and the International Institute for Improvement in Veterinary Ethics , this case is being read by a New Zealand audience spanning from Invercargill to Northland, and internationally across the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, the United States, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and South Africa. Regulatory bodies in several of those jurisdictions have been formally notified and are actively monitoring developments. This will be your opportunity to demonstrate that the Veterinary Council of New Zealand is capable of executing its regulatory duties in an ethical, honest and responsible manner. Or not. I look forward to receiving the complete list of names and position titles so that I can proceed with formal complaints against each relevant individual. One Last Point of Note, Regarding VCNZ's Chief Executive Officer In closing, I note that your Chief Executive Officer, Mr Iain McLachlan, has had so little concern - other than what appears very much to be to protect Massey University, its veterinary facility and its personnel from accountability - that he has ignored the multiple communications on which he has been cc'd for months regarding this matter, and the many provisions of the Code of Professional Conduct for Veterinarians in New Zealand ("administered" by your own organisation) that Massey's veterinary "teaching hospital" is in clear and in arguable breach of ( per my January 17 article on The Customer & The Constituent and the Open Letter to him that I published alongside it ). He initially endeavoured to avoid having to respond to my request for the (albeit incomplete and redacted) information you have now provided when I initially asked for it under the Official Information Act and chose to decline that request, apparently hoping I wouldn't know I had a right to it under the Privacy Act. Now, in a statement of open contempt, he has flicked off to you the responsibility for "dealing" with me, which you are hoping to conclude by way of directing me to fill out a form on your website. And so, I would ask, if a matter of such gravity as is represented by the Harry Kelly case, is not worthy of your Chief Executive's attention, just how bad does a set of circumstances have to be, and how obviously systemic does it have to appear within an organisation (New Zealand's only veterinary "teaching" facility, no less) before it is considered one of serious concern to the Veterinary Council of New Zealand? Or is the answer to that reflected by the fact that only an inconceivable 1.5% of all complaints (notwithstanding those that are never made) to your Council are upheld . . . and only then, on grounds of "technical competency" . . . with no concern for any complaints where a compromise in ethics has played an obvious part? If none of this is of any concern to Mr Iain McLachlan, as the head of the Veterinary Council of New Zealand, it begs the question, what does Mr McLachlan do all day? Perhaps he spends his time drafting the Standards, aims and goals that your very actions and decisions are actively designed to ensure are never actually achieved. Yours sincerely Jordan Kelly Editor-in-Chief, The Customer & The Constituent NZ Executive Director, International Institute for Improvement in Veterinary Ethics (IIIVE)

Massey's Dean Jon Huxley Assures Collusive Veterinary Council: Nothing to See Here, Boys

by Jordan Kelly • 22 March 2026

Actually, Huxley, Notwithstanding That Their Loyalty to You and to Massey Prevents It, It's the VCNZ's JOB to 'Be Drawn Into It'. That's How They Get to See That It's Anything BUT A 'Wholly Unfounded Complaint'. It's Also More than Just A 'Complaint'. As You Have Long Since Known.

Massey’s Vet ‘Hospital’ Staffed by Unsupervised Juniors Administering Drugs At Will, Committing Serious Animal Cruelty, Falsifying Diagnoses, Records & Coercing 'Euthanasia'

by Jordan Kelly • 15 March 2026

Editor’s Conclusion : Unsupervised. Unaccountable. Uninvestigated. And Still Accredited.

UPDATED 16.3.26: WAITING, MASSEY . . . Are You Going to Comply with Your Legally Required Information-Release Obligations?

by Jordan Kelly • 10 March 2026

UPDATED: 16.3.26 Will This Badly Behaving Institution Finally Allow the Full Truth to Be Revealed? (16.3.26: MASSEY BREACHED ALL ITEMS ON THE BELOW OIA; TOTALLY IGNORED THEIR LEGAL OBLIGATIONS. NO COMMUNICATION. A HUGE NO-NO IN THE NZ CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK.)

FOLLOW THE MONEY: The Compromised Veterinary Regulatory & Accreditation 'System'

by Jordan Kelly • 8 March 2026

Hidden in Plain Sight: Unashamed Conflicts of Interest to Make Your Head Spin

IN PROGRESS: How Massey 'Training' Produces the Low Vet Care Standards & Outright Contempt NZ Pet Owners Have to Tolerate

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

MASSEY VETS FALSIFY RECORDS: POLICE REPORT FILED

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.

DIFFERENTLY ABLED . . . & Definitely Able and Willing to Expose the Decades-Long Incompetence, Malfeasance & Cronyism of Two Deeply Corrupt Government Agencies and Their Parliamentary Enablers.