Dubious & Deceitful, Masterton DC . . . & Smelling Very, Very Dodgy. So Which Councillors Care? (Hint: Most Couldn't Give A Stuff)
Jordan Kelly • 31 August 2025

Before You Vote for More of the Same Contempt from Your Local 'Elected Representatives', See If Any Care About YOU, the Ratepayer . . . Because When You Need Them, You Might Be Highly Disappointed.

My regular readers might remember this article from back in March of this year:  Noxious Emissions from Your Neighbours' 'Wood' Burners? Here Are the Rules.


In short, for reasons best known to themselves, my rear "neighbours", with their very large house a literal stone's throw from my back fence (and from my clothesline) had chosen to set their woodburner going in the middle of one of the hottest days of the summer, stenching out (with a putrid smell strongly suggestive of domestic rubbish, plastic or something you don't want in your house, much less permeating your clothes) a huge amount of precious clothing I'd just pulled out of long-term storage and had spent all day sorting into piles (in my back garden since my washing machine is in my garage), laboriously washing, and squeezing very creatively onto my Hills Hoist clothesline.


As anyone would be, I was rightly angry at the subsequent inevitability (following multiple repeated washings with everything from eucalyptus oil to industrial-grade detergent) of (heartbreakingly) having to discard a large proportion of my beautiful, but stenched-beyond-redeemability clothing (much of which I had bought and treasured from my vast international travels).


On that initial occasion, I'd done the two Councils' (Masterton District Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council) job for them, in writing the above linked-to article and delivering it into the letterbox of the offending neighbours.


While I wasn't naive enough to think it wouldn't happen again - and probably as soon as I pegged out my next load of washing - I thought I was avoiding the loss of more clothes and linen by having a local builder string a (sort of) clothesline in my driveway (very low-class, but no choice under the circumstances). However, in protracted dull weather, washing doesn't dry for days there . . . but does dry brilliantly and rapidly in the breeze enjoyed by the afore-mentioned Hills Hoist in my back garden.


So, now in the grips of winter, I gingerly resumed pegging out a few loads on said (riskily) exposed Hills Hoist . . . and yes, you guessed it, with the predictable result of stenched-out clothes again. Not quite as putrid this time (albeit, still putrid nonetheless) but that might have been more good luck than anything else, based on the difference in weather conditions versus the original stenching-out scenario.


So I Reached Out YET AGAIN to the Local Council for Help . . .


Predictably, Masterton District Council did what Masterton District Council does best:  tell me it's Greater Wellington Regional Council's problem. And Greater Wellington Regional Council does what Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) does best: tell me it's Masterton District Council's problem.


Convinced by the GWRC that it was indeed a Masterton District Council Environmental Department responsibility, I pursued that channel - while still trying to get the GWRC to do something nonetheless, since it was pretty clear that the Masterton Council personnel had nil genuine intention of ever actually addressing the matter.


And so it went on, for weeks, this "5D" game of "show as much contempt for the ratepayer as possible". . . . until finally, some middle manager-type person in the Greater Wellington Regional Council (who I pursued again after it became clear that Masterton DC staff were just enjoying said game) recommended to someone who should have cared (but didn't give a shit) in Masterton District Council, that they letterbox a flyer in the immediate area, letting the neighbouring residents know what's OK and what's not OK to burn in a domestic woodburner (as if said neighbouring property owners didn't know; but at least it would serve as a warning shot across their bow).


The GWRC staff member actually even provided the proposed / recommended text of the flyer to make it a "no-brainer" for Masterton DC staff.


Thereupon ensued two months of my following up the Masterton District Council's "Customer Service Manager" to see when said flyer or letter or whatever was going to be letterboxed . . . so I could stop racking up a massive power bill by having to use my clothes dryer for every load of washing I did.


While the first email (from the "Customer Services Manager" following the GWRC's suggestion and letterbox flyer content provision) had, in fact, been promising:  "I've just come out of a meeting (to organise it)", the matter quickly descended back into just another perennial avoidance strategy i.e. "gotta try to find the resources". And I kept getting the same email on each of my follow-up attempts thereafter, but just with slightly different wording, "The bylaws team are working on finding some resources."


I finally, in one email to said Customer Services Manager, even asked outright if I was getting the 5D treatment. Of course I wasn't, was the unconvincing response:


Kia ora Jordan,

 

Apologies for the delayed response.

 

Last I heard was the Bylaws team were looking for resources to have the materials ready for a letter box/post drop. I left this with the Bylaws team to proceed with, so I will follow up with them to see where this is at.

 

I would like to think that we do not use the said instruments of the 5D’s as described in the article below, however delays to what appears to be (sic) simple task can have an effect of making customers feel they are being placed in the basket of the 5D’s!


I can honestly say I have never endeavoured to gaslight you at all Jordan, I trust in my colleagues' abilities in their relevant fields, which is exactly what I have done on this occasion by leaving this with the bylaws team to follow up and complete.

 

As stated earlier, I will follow up with the Bylaws team this afternoon and see where this is at, I will come back to you as soon as I have some solid information to share.

 

Ngā mihi,

CLARE WILLIAMS

Manager - Customer Services


So I Offered to Write It & Deliver It Myself . . .


Understanding the game, I now offered to take the raw copy that had been produced for the Masterton DC bylaws team by the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) personnel, write it up myself (offering my professional services at absolutely no charge), and then submit it back for their approval . . . whereupon all they had to do was run it through their photocopier onto some letterhead. After that, I personally, myself, would run about the single block of properties in question, letterboxing it.


No "resources" needed - other than some admin staffer at Masterton DC to press the button on the photocopier.


But then . . . complete radio silence. Well, just a brief email response to tell me, they'd "contact (me) if they needed (my) help".


Finally, following another lengthy period of rainy days and more risks that didn't pay off (i.e. hanging out clothes again on the targeted Hills Hoist, resulting in yet more stenched-out clothes that repeated washing couldn't remediate), I wrote to all the Councillors of both the GWRC and the Masterton District Council.


That resulted in the GWRC staff member (now nearly three months after having supplied Masterton District Council with the copy for the simple print-out), at the instruction of the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the GWRC, taking back responsibility for this simple exercise and getting it done in the same week. Thank you to those two elected representatives of the Greater Wellington Regional Council . . . for doing what, for reasons best known to themselves, Masterton District Council bylaws / environmental team members were refusing to do (albeit that they had agreed to, and had advised that they would, do).


But Then THIS Happened . . . And Was THIS What the Masterton District Council Was Up to the Whole Time?


The very next week (or was it even the same week?), you would struggle to believe it in all but a few Council areas, but . . .


I came home to find that a huge, second  smoke stack  (a chimney very substantially larger than the original offending emission source) and substantially closer i.e. not a lot more than maybe 10 meters from my clothesline . . . had suddenly appeared above (what is assumed to be) the garage/workshop of said neighbours' house!!


The self-same department who wouldn't distribute the letter / flyer given to them by the Regional Council to distribute to address the problem, had (it appears) consented an even BIGGER problem within more IMMEDIATE, DIRECT-LINE-OF-FIRE PROXIMITY!!


So what's going on THERE, I think I have a right to know?


It would appear to explain a LOT about the reticence of the Masterton District Council to distribute the GWRC's flyer / letter!!


So I Emailed All the Councillors Individually, to See Who Was Worth His or Her Salt As An 'Elected Representative' . . .


I emailed every single Councillor of both Councils, laboriously, individually, with the subject line:  "Email Specifically for (Councillor's Name)".


And so, who's worth their salt and ratepayers' money to fund their annual stipends? Very few. Very few indeed, according to my experience (or lack thereof) of them:


From the Masterton District Council:


  • Deputy Mayor Bex Johnson:  Emailed me to say it was Greater Wellington Regional Council's problem. (She did fruitlessly cc the well-hidden-from-ratepayer-view and totally unaccountable very well-salaried CEO, though, who remained as silent as always when it comes to ratepayer issues.)


  • David Holmes ("At-Large Councillor"):  Rang and told me he'd address the matter directly with management at a meeting the following morning, and said he'd call me that afternoon. He didn't and I never heard from him again.


  • Marama Tuuta (Maori Ward Councillor) sent me this email the following week:  "Kia ora Jordan, Your issue was discussed in Wednesday’s meeting with the council and the officers. We were assured by the officers that it was being dealt with and so it was left up to the officers to deal with. I trust this addresses the issue. Aku mihi. Councillor Tuuta"  No, I emailed back. I've heard nothing from anyone at the Council, and certainly no issue had "been dealt with".


  • Councillor Tim Nelson:  **The single, only, sole Councillor around the entire "elected representatives" table worth his salt and ratepayers' funding, as far as I'm concerned. Cr Nelson followed up with me at several points throughout the whole (still VERY much unresolved and unexplained and HIGHLY DUBIOUS fiasco). His email of August 13 read:  "Hi Jordan, This was addressed after the council meeting today. Are you in touch with Corin Haines? Apparently he contacted you and is waiting on a reply."


My reply to Cr Nelson read:  "Thanks for following through, Tim, but a big NO, NOTHING from Corin Haines.  I’ve just been back through every email and voicemail that came in today (and also yesterday and also Monday) from anyone, and absolutely nothing from a Corin Haines (unsurprisingly, as that is the person that started out back in January as the one who was meant to be sorting out this matter. I do object to a Council staffer telling you they’ve contacted me when they haven’t)."


Cr Nelson's subsequent reply to me read:  "Hi Jordan, My suggestion is that you email Corin, and cc the CEO  (Kym Fell) and myself in, and refer to the cc in the email. Tim"  (whereupon I asked him for, and he provided, the email of the well-hidden-from-view - "CEO" (read: very well-paid yet seemingly totally unaccountable town clerk).


Tim must have passed that on to said staff powers-that-shouldn't be, because it resulted in the arrival of the following totally contemptuous reply (amounting to a cut-and-paste from either the Masterton DC's or the GWRC's website (and completely refusing to even acknowledge the whole dodgy affair of the consenting of the second (even larger, even closer) smoke stack on the same property - and, Messrs Fell and Mulligan, to which I still require an answer . . . like, a REAL one):


Kia ora Jordon (sic),

 

Your email to the Mayor has been brought to my attention and passed to me for response.

 

I have been in touch with the Greater Wellington Regional Council and I have been advised that there will be a brochure drop around your neighbourhood on Friday. I am aware this has also been communicated to you by a Greater Wellington Regional Council staff member.

 

I would like to reiterate that if you experience a smoke nuisance please telephone Masterton District Council- 06-370 6300 and log a service request, this will then be logged for one of the Environmental Services Team to attend. Please describe what is happening and what your concern is.

 

The Customer Services Team will then load the service request, with the details you have provided and pass this onto an Environmental Services Team Member who will attend when they are able. Please be aware someone might not be always available right away, they may be on other jobs, but we will attend as soon as possible.

 

An Environmental Services Team member will attend the property and make an assessment as to nuisance. If the issue is still occurring when they arrive, they may engage with the owner if they are home to gather more information and try to ascertain what is causing the nuisance. In the first instance, we will educate the owner about not burning rubbish in their fireplace if this is occurring.

 

If illegal discharge to air is occurring and the issue continues, we may engage the support of the Greater Wellington Regional Council in relation to illegal discharge air.

 

Ngā mihi,

Terri Mulligan

Environmental Services Manager 


Mulligan's email is almost a word-for-word, cut-and-paste of the same email I was sent after the January smoke-outs!! And apart from its open contemptuousness, does nothing to explain (a) why Mulligan's team avoided doing the letterboxing exercise, and (b) why his team was, at the same time, apparently busy consenting a second,  substantially larger, substantially closer smoke stack, while actively refusing to address the issue being created by the first one ON THE VERY SAME PROPERTY!!


The Danger of Weak, Malleable & Unresponsive Councillors As Our 'Elected Representatives'


It is exactly this kind of missing-in-action, unresponsive and apathetic breed of "Councillor" that results in ratepayers being subjected to exactly this type of dubious scenario and contempt-ridden unaccountability by Council management and staff (together with unaccountable spending).


On that note, here are the those that - despite my detailed, several emails, written and addressed specifically and individually to them - fully ignored me, as their "constituent":


Masterton District Council . . . Our 'Elected Representatives': Who's Worth the Seat They're Warming?


  • Mayor Gary Caffell (On a previous occasion, this "Mayor" told me if I had an issue I needed to go through the Council's sanitised media department, despite my being a ratepayer! NB: Why the hell does little old Masterton need a council "media team", anyway?)


  • Bex Johnson (OK, so she replied, but as a Mayoral candidate, I certainly wouldn't be voting for her; IMHO, she's just another of the largely ineffective status quo bums on seats around the Council table. We need real ratepayer representation and real accountability from the management suite, and I don't think we'll get it from her or from any of the current crop of "elected representatives" - with one exception (see further on).


  • Craig Bowyer (Going for Mayor . . . yeah, right. Where was his response to my plea for help?)


  • Stella Lennox (Going for Mayor . . . ditto)


  • David Holmes (Cr Holmes: If you're going to stand someone up, you're better just to be missing-in-action like your fellow "Councillors")


  • Brent Goodwin (Never heard from him or of him.)


  • Tom Hullena (Never heard from him or of him.)


  • Marama Tuuta:  (Unknown as to whether any follow-through would have been forthcoming from any further "reaching out" to her, following her email telling me that Council staff had advised her that the problem "had been dealt with". Certainly, she didn't acknowledge my email telling her very specifically that, no, it hadn't, and I hadn't heard from any staff member, either.)


  • Tim Nelson:  Contrasting sharply with all of the above mainly seat-warmers at ratepayers' expense, and worth his salt and should actually be the one going for the Mayoralty, in my opinion, not least of all for his commonsense fiscal policies (Read: The Voice of A Fiscally Responsible Local Councillor), is Councillor Tim Nelson.


Greater Wellington Regional Council:


Daran Ponter, GWRC Council Chair, and Adrienne Staples, Deputy Council Chair, were both, I'm assuming (and I think, correctly) the only reason the letterboxing exercise ever happened at all (which, as outlined, ended up being done by GWRC itself).


I'll refrain from commenting on the other GWRC "elected representatives", since I don't know if any might have demonstrated any concern in the background. What might have been less ignorant, however, is (given that each of them had an email from me addressed specifically to them, individually) to have taken a moment to acknowledge it.


On the Matter of Staff Lying to Elected Representatives


For those "elected representatives" who are totally unable or unwilling to read the room, there's a growing national dissatisfaction with self-interested, pointless, seat-warmer, ratepayer-funded "Councillors" . . . most especially those who are too uninterested, too uninvested, or too timid, to do anything about the dubious conduct of the management and staff in their Council buildings.


Here are just a few likewise examples of Councils at loggerheads with their communities for their apathetic willingness to be towed along by the nose by, and/or to turn a blind eye to dodgy behaviour in, the management suite:


Taupo Councillor Blows the Whistle: The '5Ds' of Bureaucratic Sabotage At Work in Local Government


MUST-WATCH: Citizen Journalist's Deep Dive into Unaccountable Local Government Spending


Auckland Council Imposes 'Giant Buddhist Monstrosity' Over Local Community - No Consultation


Taxpayers' Union Repeats Call for Rates Capping After Tauranga Council Drops $67.7k for Graphics on One Bus Stop


Council's Woke Spending Spree Rolls On While Wellington Heads for Economic Implosion


READERS


Here's the shameful, disingenuous sequel to this ongoing, smelly affair.


I highly recommend that residents and ratepayers DON'T VOTE for weak, unconcerned councillor candidates who turn their backs on their constituents, when they should have their backs.

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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)
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.
by Jordan Kelly 15 March 2026
Editor’s Conclusion : Unsupervised. Unaccountable. Uninvestigated. And Still Accredited.
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.)
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.
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