Dr Matt Shelton – A courageous shining light

Unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. – Martin Luther King

On 30 September 2026, Dr Matt Shelton is scheduled to appear before a Tribunal in Wellington. Not for a well-deserved medal of honour, but for alleged misconduct charges that may result in de-registration as a doctor. The tribunal is expected to take just over two weeks.

Dr Matt is the last of a key group of doctors from New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science, (NZDSOS) called before the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (HPDT) for daring to tell New Zealanders the truth and caring enough to warn them about the serious dangers of taking an experimental gene-tech therapy injection – erroneously labelled a “Covid vaccine” – that had minimal, if any, testing and was neither safe nor effective.

Governments of almost every country – flanked by a complicit media – had moved in lockstep, on the orders of a few unelected cabals and technocrats to create panic about “Covid-19” and herd everyone into receiving the experimental gene-tech jab. New Zealanders were subjected to a military-grade psychological programme of fear, locked down, coerced, bribed, and then threatened with loss of employment if they did not receive the jab. No risk/benefit analysis was done. No meaningful information was passed on to New Zealanders that would equip them with the knowledge to be able to provide fully informed consent.

The Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) – despite their claims of being independent from government – swiftly followed in line with the Labour government of the time, leaving the rights of patients in tatters. The Chair of the MCNZ at that time, Dr Curtis Walker, claimed there was “no place” for anti-vaccine statements. That was tantamount to trampling all over the NZ Bill of Rights 1990 (NZBORA) and the rights of patients to have the full information of a medical product so they were able to give fully informed consent, or decline it.

The proof of the dangers of this product were placed before government on countless occasions by NZDSOS and through eminent international doctors.

The MCNZ then promptly singled out NZDSOS, our most outstanding individual doctors and medical staff who risked everything, including their livelihoods, reputations, and registrations – to bring New Zealanders the truth. They endured consistent censorship, and cruel, undeserved ridicule.

Why didn’t Dr Matt Shelton fall into line?

Because, he and his colleagues within NZDSOS could not ignore the principles they swore to uphold, which included: The Hippocratic Oath – First Do No Harm;  the Nuremberg Code; the right of the doctor to be able to give his professional opinion of a medical product free of the dictates of government or a medical council; the right of the patient to be told of the risks of a medical treatment, so they are able to provide fully informed consent; freedom of medical choice and  the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA).

Relevant clauses of the NZBORA are in Part 2 and include: 8. The Right not to be deprived of life. 9. The Right not to be subjected to torture or cruel treatment, including the right not to be subjected to degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment. 10. The Right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation. 11. The Right to refuse medical treatment. 13. Freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief, including the right to adopt and to hold opinions without interference. 14. Freedom of expression. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to speak, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form. 16. Freedom of peaceful assembly. 17. Freedom of association. 18. Freedom of movement. 19. Freedom from discrimination. 27. The Right to justice.

These crucial Rights were what Matt, and NZDSOS, sought to defend and uphold, not only for their patients, but for all New Zealanders.

Looking back over the past six years, Matt commented “There was only one obvious right thing to do.” Then he and his NZDSOS colleagues did it. They warned as many as possible, providing balanced factual information to the public through their website. They lobbied government, wrote many open letters to those in parliament, questioned the false narratives, have held packed events throughout the country, invited esteemed international doctors as guest speakers, attracted audiences of over 1,000 people at their events, and are tireless in their efforts to keep the public fully informed. They have written and published factual articles to enlighten others of the dangers of the experimental jab in a climate where there is a paucity of truth and lies are gift-wrapped in the guise of ad agency propaganda and further lies – including “safe and effective”. They have prepared and presented a 382-page report for the Royal Commission of Inquiry 2 packed with proof of injury, illness and death.  They have also taken the MCNZ to court. See also here and here. Matt and his colleagues are a formidable army.

Dr Matt Shelton and those in NZDSOS genuinely care. They consistently highlight the plight of the vaccine-injured and bereaved and lobby on behalf of them. They have shone a light on the cruel treatment of the vaccinated, many thousands of whom have suffered severe side effects and then had an almost impossible battle to obtain compensation from ACC while some treasonous members of the medical profession jeered at them when admitted to hospital, alleging their very real side effects were all in their head.

In an interview before the last election, when asked if the “vaccine” injured should receive ACC, National MP (now PM) Chris Luxon astoundingly said they shouldn’t, despite the fact that this is one of the key reasons ACC was established. Labour MP, Hipkins was no better, as he callously alleged they were provided for under ACC when it was clear this wasn’t happening in a straight-forward manner.

The bereaved who had lost loved ones as a direct result of the experimental jab, were often falsely told it had no bearing on the death. Many were offered money for their silence.

Meanwhile, Matt, with the doctors and medical staff of NZDSOS, were going above and beyond in their creation of the New Zealand Doctors Holistic Health Collective (NZDHHC) to help those injured, as well as all New Zealanders who had lost trust in the medical system.

Pfizer’s nine-page list of adverse events, released on the orders of a Judge in the U.S. in 2021, confirmed the truth of what Dr Matt Shelton and his NZDSOS colleagues were trying to make known to New Zealanders. These adverse events were known by the government, as well as the fact that “Covid” wasn’t particularly transmissible or dangerous, the jab did not have the usual testing and there were dangerous side effects, including death. They were also aware that it could cause myocarditis in teenagers from 12–17, but the Labour government chose to hide that and then mandated them to get the “two shots for summer” when in full knowledge of this information, continuing with the lie of “safe and effective”. Over 311,000 New Zealand teens and their parents were never given the information on the risks of this jab that were vital for them to know to provide fully informed consent. Aly Cook and Sue Grey of the Freedom Party did enormous work to uncover this and Katie Ashby-Koppens and Alia Bland of RCR media did a further detailed follow-up.

The truth is, as Dr David Martin confirmed, this gene-tech experimental injection is a military grade bioweapon. Dr Martin’s forensic investigation of the patents connected with that product have proven he is correct. This bioweapon, dressed in the guise of a so-called vaccine, was what was unleashed on the world.

Governments of almost every country, flanked by a complicit media, moved in lockstep on the orders of a few unelected cartels – made up of technocrats and trillionaires – who seek totalitarian world control. The proof has been placed before government on countless occasions and yet they continue to blindly march to the mantra of the colossal propaganda surrounding this jab that can maim and kill. More information on the money trail and the cabals connected with this bioweapon is here and here and here.

Despite the damning, irrefutable evidence that has stacked up over the past five or six years that proves the caution Dr Matt and his colleagues called for was entirely valid, these courageous souls continue to be brought before tribunals by the Medical Council of New Zealand in an attempt to silence and punish them, sending a message to all other doctors. Several have been fined tens of thousands of dollars and were de-registered. If they aren’t de-registered they usually lose their practising certificates temporarily and are put  through “re-education programmes”. The Nurses Council (NCNZ) also moved in lockstep. Nurses who spoke out were also fined and de-registered. Both the MCNZ and the NCNZ conducted little more than witch-hunts. More details here. Is there balance in the selection of tribunal members at these events?

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. — Martin Luther King Jr.

The irony is that the MCNZ and the government don’t appear to realise that their continued attacks on these ethical doctors and medical staff work against them, for they make the injustice of such attacks so patently clear and this reflects badly on the MCNZ, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the government. It also makes Dr Matt Shelton and his colleagues even more popular, which culminates in ever-increasing numbers of New Zealanders looking towards NZDSOS for information they can trust. In this way, they give the voice of Dr Matt and NZDSOS expanded reach.

Nor can deregistration make Matt’s many years of service as a doctor disappear, or any spurious reasons be given for deregistration. That won’t wear well for the MCNZ, the HPDT, or government either, especially when considering the avalanche of damning information on the gene-tech jab that is now common knowledge all over the world.

In 2025 Senator Robert Kennedy Jr announced a halt on mRNA funding for 22 vaccine development contracts as the risks outweighed any benefits. His statement was based on the science which seems to have completely alluded the NZ government who continue to march to the drum of a long-outdated script with ever-more resultant injury and death left in its wake.

In light of the overwhelming evidence of the lethality of the bioweapon, it beggars belief that the government still allow it to be administered and the MCNZ continue to bring doctors before tribunals when they have been proven to be right to have advised caution and warn about the potential risks.

One of the key mottos of the MCNZ is to “protect patients and the public”. Punishing doctors for ensuring their patients and the public are aware of the risks so they can give fully informed consent, or refuse to have the medical treatment, is a far cry from “protecting patients and the public”. Dr Matt Shelton and his colleagues at NZDSOS have sent numerous letters to alert them of the dangers. Their letters have mostly been met with a deafening silence.

More on Matt

Matt qualified in the UK as a doctor in 1985 and became a GP. He then worked in NZ on an Overseas Experience (OE) initiative in 1989, and fell in love with the country. He spent some time in anaesthetics and emigrated to NZ to finish his training in 1994, but international medical politics intervened and forced him to return to general practice or return to England to complete his training in anaesthetics. He chose New Zealand.  Eventually he taught nutritional and environmental medicine at a post-graduate level for a decade. He had become aware of the limitations of the pharmaceutical paradigm and was interested in seeking the causes of illness, moving to an integrative model as the new millennium turned.

Matt’s family medicine clinic brought him more satisfaction and effectiveness in the way he practiced medicine, as he was working to uncover the foundational cause of disease so the right steps could be taken to restore patients to health. He was heartened by the positive progress that his patients experienced. It also enabled him to work with his patients to seek out where their health challenges were and how to remedy them, whether through diet, exercise, mind-body work, nutraceuticals, and other options. It addressed all aspects of the patient that included mind, body and spirit. It makes sense. (No point in consulting only the body when the mind and spirit are in the driver’s seat.)

Through this work, he was in contact with other medical professionals in the natural/integrative health field. Even then, pre-covid, they collectively sensed that authorities were encroaching on the area of natural health and making moves to restrict it, so they had formed a society immediately before the dark cloud of “Covid-19” loomed on the horizon. At Easter 2021 some of them moved to form NZDSOS to support Sue Grey’s challenge against the mass rollout to the whole country based on law that specified such a product was for limited release, and only to a small number of people. Of course she won and so the government changed the law overnight.

Matt was initially alarmed by the messaging that surrounded “Covid-19” and that the “only solution” presented was a new, previously untried, gene-tech jab. He was concerned for his patients as there was no risk/benefit analysis on it, so New Zealanders would be unable to provide informed consent unless they were told of the lack of safety data. In his professional view, a new type of vaccine would take years to go through sufficient testing, yet this gene-tech “vaccine” was available within months, so that was another red flag.

The government messaging created an environment of fear, along with economic distress and devastation endured through unnecessary lockdowns. Some companies, already wealthy, were given millions to keep afloat while small businesses went into liquidation. There were suicides and over consumption of alcohol and drugs that fuelled domestic violence. Fear was drummed up with the daily rhetoric from the “podium of truth” aided by the collaborative mainstream media. Nothing was mentioned about the potential risks of this new gene-tech at any stage, either pre-rollout, or during the roll-out.

This became too much for Matt. Seeing injuries mount in his own patients, on the day the government suddenly announced teenagers were “eligible” he texted his patients a moderate message recommending caution and that they do their own due diligence. He suggested the NZDSOS website to provide balance to the government’s messaging. The website highlighted the vital, factual information that the gene-tech injection was being released at warp speed with no liability for the pharmaceutical corporations, no list of contents of the vials, no standard safety testing and the usual safety measures were abandoned.

Further Background

The injection was released under “Emergency Use Authorisation” (EUA) because the viable alternatives that were effective, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), were intentionally dismissed and invalidated. Doctors were not permitted to prescribe them.  (There is no EUA if alternative treatments are available.) Even worse, the gene-tech jab was a “one-size-fits-all”, enforced on everyone regardless of their medical history, risk factors, allergies, or medical condition.

Please note: There were different batches. Some more dangerous than others. There are also protocols for helping to alleviate harmful effects, so if you have had one of these injections it is important to know that there are things that can be done to help you back to health. Cardiologist, Dr McCullough in the US, has published his protocol here. It is also possible to make enquiries at the New Zealand Doctors Holistic Health Collective, NZDHHC.

Many New Zealanders first heard Dr Matt on the radio with Peter Williams, or saw him in a video clip in 2021 when he was speaking at an anti-mandate event in Wellington, trying to warn of ethical breaches due to the unknowns of the experimental gene-tech jab. Those who know Matt are well aware that public speaking isn’t something he would naturally lean towards – far from it. He would be more likely to want to take off in the opposite direction. But not on this, for he knew that an unforgiveable line had been crossed by the authorities, so he felt there was no alternative but to stand up and speak out. Regardless of his natural reticence for public speaking, when Matt speaks he commands the space and the audience listens, because he communicates with such genuine concern, he has done his research, and he tells the truth. Truth cuts through lies. It resonates. It makes sense and is easy to understand. There is no subterfuge or trickery.

A few months later Matt was at Camp Freedom, speaking publicly again, where many of us who had stood up and spoken out were gathered in February of 2022. Since then, he has been interviewed often nationally and internationally and spoken at many major events.

In an interview with Dr Emanuel Garcia in 2022, Matt said it would have been unconscionable for him to remain silent when he could see the grave danger of the speed in which this experimental gene-tech jab had been rolled out. He insisted on his right to provide his honest professional opinion to his patients and alert them of the risks, for this was the bedrock ethics of what it meant to be a doctor. If doctors didn’t have the foundations of that, the Hippocratic Oath, the Nuremberg Code and the NZBORA, then what did they have? Nothing – little more than the eternal shame of knowing they would be surrounded by the wrecked foundations of a once (long ago) proud profession. Matt wasn’t prepared to accept that, so he had no choice but to speak out.

Matt mentioned in the interview with Dr Garcia that some of his colleagues agreed with his stance but “didn’t want to question or risk trouble”. Brave souls like Matt and his colleagues often find plenty of room at the front, while others fade into the background, heads down, eyes shielded. Those who questioned were spurned, with practicing certificates suspended, including Matt’s.

Matt appealed in court. The Judge took his side, telling the MCNZ to reinstate Matt and get him back to work. Matt did get his licence to practice back, albeit very briefly as the MCNZ immediately created new charges and started suspension proceedings within a week of the Judge’s decision. It seemed, to many, that was a substantial overreach by the MCNZ,  tantamount, surely, to contempt of court?

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change. — Robert Kennedy

There were further murmurs of quiet approval from previous colleagues on the quiet, but when push came to shove they melded into the shadows. Instead of standing together, most doctors feared to speak out. They kept their heads down, remained silent, followed orders, and fell in line. Some, perhaps, initially believed the military-style propaganda assault; some didn’t, but went along with whatever it took to keep their job. Others, apparently, did kick up a quiet behind-the-scenes fuss, for over 11,000 health-workers were given exemptions from having the jab themselves while their patients and other New Zealanders were forced to do so, or lost their jobs and were shut off from society, ostracised for refusing to submit to it.

If most doctors had simply stood by their families, their patients and NZDSOS, and hadn’t remained acquiescent and silent as the medical rights of all New Zealanders were trampled over, then the current devastation in our country would have never gained a foothold. But, they made their decision and were hollowed out from within, untethered now from medical ethics, honour and conscience with no visible upholding of the Hippocratic Oath, The Nuremberg Code, or the NZ Bill of Rights Act.

It is not too late for the doctors who remained silent to speak out. Until the day they do, and until they stop taking the money and rewards for the majority of their patients being jabbed, they will not stand as any medical practitioner of ethics, soul and substance – just a parody of what was – an empty vassal for the pharmaceutical industry, and the military-industrial complex, in tandem with government and the various medical councils, to manipulate and order about as they please. Even now, they can still unleash themselves from that unenviable hell. It is very late to do so, but it is possible, if they speak out, blow the whistle on what they have seen of the carnage, and reach out to other like-minded individuals such as those in NZDSOS.

The longer the military-grade psychological “Covid” operation continued, the louder the alarm bells went off as the Prime Minister and MPs – with no medical experience – all weighed in on giving medical advice to “get the jab”. The infamous comment that “We are your single source of truth” really took the cake.

Pregnant women and those planning to become pregnant, as well as children, would be some of the most vulnerable to side effects. It had been an unwritten law in medicine that pregnant women shouldn’t have any pharmaceutical drugs during pregnancy, unless imperative. This had been a rule since the dark days of thalidomide when a pill given to pregnant women to alleviate morning sickness resulted in babies being born with missing limbs and other deformities. As a result, all drugs were avoided in pregnancy, as well as alcohol and smoking. Even Pfizer in the US had suggested pregnant women avoid their so-called “vaccine” but the Ardern-led NZ government gave no such warning. Matt did. NZDSOS did, as well as other like-minded Kiwis in the Freedom movement.

In terms of history, it hadn’t been that long since 1945 and the horrific medical experiments conducted in the concentration camps by the mad Mengeles and others that led to the Nuremberg Code. This document made it very clear that no one was to be experimented on medically unless they were fully informed of the risks and dangers of such experiments and gave their willing consent. Vera Sharav, survivor of Auschwitz, quotes the Nuremberg Code here. The Declaration of Helsinki 1964 further endorsed the principles of The Nuremberg Code 1947.

As mentioned, the MCNZ states its prime purpose is to protect the public and patients. It also states it is independent from government.  It is difficult to see how they were protecting the public, patients, or acting as though they were independent from government if they weren’t advising of the risks of this gene-tech. If the MCNZ had insisted that the ethical principles of fully informed consent, the Hippocratic Oath (First, Do no Harm), the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA 1990), and the Nuremberg Code must be honoured and held sacrosanct, before anyone received one of these shots, then that would have protected the public and patients and it would clearly show them to be independent of government. But, the MCNZ, and other medical councils around the world, appear caught in the grip of a private international Rockefeller-linked organisation that has been in existence since 1912. Dr Bruce Dooley blew the lid off that here and here.

Instead, as mentioned, the MCNZ appeared to bypass the key foundations and dictated to doctors that they were all expected to be injected with the novel gene tech therapy and there was no place for any anti-vaccine statements. Why would they act in this manner? This NZDSOS article provides some possible answers.

From a lay person’s view — and as a former NZRN many years ago – it wasn’t the job of the MCNZ to dictate to doctors that they weren’t permitted to express their professional opinion of a new, virtually untested, gene-tech jab with a high rate of side effects that crossed the line. Yet, I repeat, they did, virtually bypassing the ethical obligations of each doctor and ordering them to violate the patient’s right to be able to provide fully informed consent, as well as violating the NZBORA, the Nuremberg Code and the Hippocratic Oath. Then the usual methods used by MCNZ to muzzle doctors ensued including; losing the right to practice, being brought before a tribunal, fined extortionate amounts of money and, in some cases, de-registration. A modern-day Inquisition. A hallmark of fascism or communism.

For astute New Zealanders, the actions of the MCNZ created an immense distrust of those who remained within the fold of such an organisation. How could the remaining doctors be trusted if they were forbidden from giving their professional opinion of a new gene-tech jab and forbidden to inform their patients of the contents of the vial and likely side-effects?

That’s what Matt and his colleagues at NZDSOS endeavoured to do – ensure New Zealanders had the information to make balanced decisions.

The previous Ardern-led government appointed Simon Watts onto the MCNZ and he served as Deputy Chair for some years. As NZDSOS made clear in a recent article, Deputy Chair Simon Watt appeared to have a direct conflict of interest as he had negotiated the Pfizer procurement contract for the government, but then sat on the Council “adjudicating complaints against vaccine-critical doctors.” That seems a far cry from “independent from government”.

In June 2026, the MOH MP, Simeon Brown made the decision  to decline the reappointment of Simon Watt, the Deputy Chair of the MCNZ, and the Chair, Dr Rachelle Love. The Minister stated  “The Medical Council has become increasingly distracted by politics instead of focusing on its core responsibilities of improving patient outcomes and ensuring New Zealanders can get the care they need, when they need it.” This decision appeared to be hot on the heels of a MCNZ announcement about “cultural privilege”. There were howls of protest from sponsored media about the Minister declining to reappoint Dr Love and Simon Watt, but not so much as a whimper on the original government appointment of Simon Watt, the lawyer who played that key role in the government negotiations with Pfizer during the tenure of the previous government.

Despite the world being awash with factual information from international experts publicly stating that the experimental injection is neither safe or effective and doesn’t prevent transmission — and when Pfizer had long-since released the nine-page list of adverse events — the NZ ‘caretaker government’, on 3 November 2023, extended provisional consent for the experimental Pfizer jab for a further two years and then immediately moved to fully register all variations of the jab, and even included the formulas now redundant.

This happened all while Dr Matt, the NZDSOS and many of their colleagues all over the world were exposing the dangers. For example, in addition to Dr David Martin defining this injectable as a bioweapon, Dr Mike Yeadon, who worked for Pfizer for over 20 years, concurred and explains why here. Sasha Latypova, a former pharmaceutical executive, gives her well-researched view that “an intent to harm has been taking place under the guise of a pandemic.” She states here that it was the US military that authorised the jabs and her video explaining that is here.

After carefully viewing the information and watching the serious anomalies in NZ, Dr Matt and the NZDSOS team, concurred with their international colleagues that it was a bioweapon. This was based on what they had witnessed here, with what they described as: “the dysfunction of the organisations, authorities, institutions, laws and people that are supposedly in place in this country to protect us. They list specifics here.

This, in my view, is a war that has rapidly transpired to be a battle for the human soul, the Divine Essence, and the human being we recognise as mind, body, and spirit, capable of love, compassion, caring and humanity. For those who scoff at this statement and label it under yet another conspiracy theory, they may like to review the words of Yuval Harrari, the side-kick of Klaus Schwab the former head of the World Economic Forum (WEF) –– one of the front groups for key unelected cabals and technocrats – when he arrogantly told the world they could forget about having a human soul and freedom of thought as humans was over, as they were now hackable animals . They seek to belittle and degrade the human spirit at every turn, because they are aware of the power of the spirit, within each of us, if most of us stand up and peacefully say, No.

As mentioned, Dr Matt Shelton and his colleagues advocated for medical freedom of choice, the right to fully informed consent where the patient must be told of the side effects of any medical treatment so they are able to give fully informed consent, or have the right to decline it. The government ran roughshod over all of those rights. The real dangers of chronic illness, a shattered immune system, a maimed body, and death were hidden and instead the public was implanted with the despicable lie of “safe and effective” in a psy-op propaganda campaign that could be more accurately described as an implanted propaganda phrase repeated incessantly – and that went into the brain “believed”.

It is not easy to stand up and speak out as Matt and others have done. It takes the courage of a lion. He would downplay his role and be the first to try to dissuade anyone from considering he was brave. The pressure is immense on these courageous souls of NZDSOS, but nothing compared to the soulless black hole of oblivion one would find oneself in if turning one’s back on the most important truths of this lifetime and countless others.  Humanity now teeters on the brink of oblivion, as mad scientists manipulate genetics through military bioweapons.

Parliament is neck-deep in the evidence of the lethality of this bio-weapon and others coming down the line that are intended. They are fully aware of chronic illness, the injury and deaths from it. All off the scale.

They are still being given.

If you are inspired and grateful for the enormous work Dr Matt Shelton and his colleagues at NZDSOS have done on behalf of us all, or if you have been able to click on the plethora of material at NZDSOS to help communicate the truth, that’s terrific, but please do hit the DONATE button and contribute to this mighty group. Be generous, do what you can afford. Contact friends who would also like to do the same. That offers tangible help to get the message out further, the gene-tech jab discontinued, and to bring those pushing this agenda to account. If you would like to do additional things to help, please click the TAKE ACTION button. Please get involved. Every step Dr Matt and these souls within NZDOS take is done for all of us. It is time we all contributed so we can have the New Zealand we want. Your help makes an immense difference. It lightens the load. It shines light, too. Thank you.

These fearless souls are steadfast, resolute, determined. Shoulder-to-shoulder they stand and continue to stand, maintaining the ethics we all thought a doctor would stand by as part of their profession. And Dr Matt Shelton is one of these fine doctors at the forefront. They have endured a parody of justice and false accusations. They have been knocked down and yet they still get back up, but stronger. More determined. Invincible.

As the lights went out in New Zealand and darkness enveloped our country, these courageous souls continued to speak out regardless of the cost. They shone their light on the lies with the truth. They are shining lights in a world of darkness.

Dr Matt Shelton would say that he has been blessed to be one of many of the key colleagues at NZDSOS and also the first to deny that he is a leading light for all at the NZDSOS as well as many thousands of New Zealanders and people all over the world. He would consider he was just doing what needed to be done. There was no other option for him and he has never once faltered. He is determined and resolute in bringing out the truth. He always will be.

It would be great to see support for Dr Matt Shelton as he fronts up to this tribunal in Wellington from Wednesday, 30 September 2026 to Friday, 16 October 2026. It is at the West Plaza Hotel, 110 Wakefield Street. It commences at 9am. Respectful and dignified behaviour by attendees would help Matt the most.

Matt, and NZDSOS: Thank you for your service, your dedication to medical ethics, putting yourself in front of your patients to defend them, and all New Zealanders. Thank you for standing in defence of medical ethics and the rights of every New Zealander.

Thank you for going above and beyond what anyone should be called to do to keep the honour and integrity of your profession intact. Thank you for your perseverance, integrity and dedication to the truth, regardless of personal consequences. Thank you for putting in the countless hours, day and night spent on validating evidence, writing, reporting and making known the truth, and working so hard to turn the trajectory of our country towards the light.

In the darkest of New Zealand’s days to date, you and the NZDSOS team shine out, and are indeed key among those who dispel and darkness with your powerful light of truth.

May God bless each and every one of you.

It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. — Robert Kennedy

All photos are © Mary Hobbs.