\ˈklāʊt\™

Publishing • Production • Communications

Showreel

Books

Unleashed

Sex, rackets & vigilantes in

New Zealand's most corrupted community.

He wrote about vigilantes during the Covid lockdowns.

What could possibly go wrong?

How a clique used their council and police connections to try to silence an investigative writer through a series of stitch ups. This Kafkaesque farce delves into a community often at the centre of many New Zealand corruption scandals.

Matakana War Memorial heritage application

Fix Hill Street Now: TVNZ Gutsful episode

Fix Hill Street Now: Visit the campaign website

Matakana War Memorial heritage application

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Welcome to Klaut.

Klaut is the publishing, production, and communications company of Grant McLachlan – a New Zealand-based writer. Grant is a prolific investigative writer of fiction and non-fiction for newspapers, books, and screen.

A former hearings commissioner, barrister, and solicitor, Grant has worked in the public and private sectors, ranging from a Parliamentary researcher and campaign director to a planner and infrastructure specialist. His columns in New Zealand newspapers and his pro-bono work has assisted many people involved in disputes with central and local government authorities.

On this site you will find links to his current and past work. There are several projects in development so please watch this space.

Sparrow

A Chronicle of Defiance

An epic account of The Sparrows

- Battle of Britain gunners who defended Timor as part of Sparrow Force in 1942.

It is the story of Charlie McLachlan's war: a triumph of stubborn Scottish defiance and laconic Aussie genius over the relentless violence of man and nature. Charlie survives and bears witness to some of the landmark days of World War II.

Media Coverage

Cannibalising Pegasus: How a 77-hectare slice of a championship course becomes a land bank

A developer has bought 77ha of Pegasus Golf Course — clubhouse, practice range, six holes — and wants it rezoned for housing. That contradicts the consent that built Pegasus, the zoning that protects it, and the reason the course exists at all.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

7 hours ago15 min read

Vindicated, then banished: Three days that exposed Queenstown council’s playbook against its only watchdog

How a ratepayer-funded communications operation removed the journalist who proved it wrong — seventy-two hours before RNZ confirmed his reporting.

PERSONA NON GRATA

Grant McLachlan - Column

15 hours ago12 min read

Donations don’t follow policy. Policy follows donations.

Stuff’s Glenn McConnell asked New Zealand’s biggest political donors why they give. He should have asked what they got.

PERSONA NON GRATA

Grant McLachlan - Column

2 days ago5 min read

Cutting themselves out: how two Wellington ministers engineered their own unemployment

It started with the civil servants. Then the cafés, landlords, contractors and small businesses. Willis and Bishop spent thirty months gutting Wellington. On 7 November, every Wellingtonian they hurt gets to vote — and the arithmetic is unkind.

PERSONA NON GRATA

Grant McLachlan - Column

2 days ago7 min read

Immigration is the economy, stupid!

“It’s the economy, stupid” is a phrase coined by Bill Clinton's campaign strategist James Carville in 1992, highlighting that voters prioritize their personal financial situation over all other issues. In New Zealand, immigration has been the driver of economic growth.

Column

Grant McLachlan

3 days ago4 min read

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