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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

STITCH UP: New investigative podcast lays out the documentary trail behind a jury acquittal — and names names

Six-part series traces four years of complaints, staged incidents and internal police records through a former ACT Party deputy leader, two sitting Cabinet ministers and the current Police Commissioner

Press Release

Grant McLachlan

Sep 214 min read

The octopus that turned on National

Jordan Williams started as an apprentice to the men who wrote the playbook. Twenty years later he runs the octopus they trained him to build — and its tentacles now reach into National’s own polling and the Prime Minister’s “captain’s calls.” This is how the apprentice became the thing his masters never controlled.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

Sep 113 min read

The overhang is real — and ACT saw it coming

Richard Prebble’s column this week caught up with maths this website published in April. ACT’s own campaigners are proving the point.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Aug 283 min read

ACT’s small-state pitch is a big-state con

Andrew Ketels wants a leaner public service. Follow the money and it is his own client base that keeps getting bigger.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Aug 234 min read

The tentacles of ACT: the lobbyists who never really left

A grocery lobbyist’s career move has drawn attention to one insider. Follow the money and the bylines and the network is much bigger, and it runs both ways through the Beehive.

Research

Grant McLachlan

Jul 295 min read

Was Paul Henry ACT's dead cat?

The same Tuesday ACT unveiled its newest star candidate, the Herald confirmed the party’s own former president had pleaded guilty to further sex offending. Coincidence, or convenient timing?

Column

Grant McLachlan

Jul 164 min read

The clandestine campaign to dismantle Jacindamania

The falls from grace of Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern were not the result of democratic whim or policy failure, but rather the outcome of sophisticated, coordinated campaigns orchestrated by a network of right-wing political operatives who maintained the illusion of independent action while working in concert.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

Dec 6, 202531 min read

Freedom fighters or freedom frauds? The Act Party’s local government hypocrisy

Act want to run candidates at this year's local body elections. But local body politicians who were previously Act candidates at the general election are retiring. Their track records speak for themselves.

Column