Auckland | klaut

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

The Super City failed. Why Hawke’s Bay council mergers will be a disaster.

Wellington wants Hawke’s Bay’s councils redesigned by 9 August. Auckland already ran this experiment — and the man now advising Hawke’s Bay on the redesign is the one whose mayoralty set Hastings on its debt path in the first place.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Jul 97 min read

Days, not decades: Auckland already has the data to settle its bridge argument

The Mayor and the Transport Minister are arguing about whether to put a bridge or a tunnel parallel to the existing harbour crossing. I crunched the data that they ignored and modelled the solution.

Research

Grant McLachlan

May 137 min read

Auckland’s stadium decision is non-sensical — and the rest of the country is just as bad

We are about to spend more public money on more single-use stadiums to host fewer events for fewer people. Melbourne worked out the answer twenty-six years ago.

Column

Grant McLachlan - Column

Apr 294 min read

PenLink won’t solve ghost congestion

The Northern Motorway between Silverdale and Oteha Valley Road is plagued by near-daily ghost congestion — phantom jams with no structural cause. The culprit is not the road. It is the driving habits of the very residents who have spent decades lobbying for PenLink.

Grant McLachlan

Apr 23 min read

Auckland’s missing motorway has been hiding in plain sight for seventy years

The Eastern Motorway — State Highway 17 — has a vacant number, protected land, and a proven funding model. All it lacks is a government with the wit to act.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Mar 314 min read