

Is New Zealand really the most beautiful country in the world?
We sell the world a postcard and then punish anyone who turns it over. The published record — and our own talent — tells a harder story.

Grant McLachlan - Column
Jun 74 min read


Shield or weapon? Why the new stalking law arrived already broken
Today, 26 May 2026, a new stalking offence comes into force. The bar has been lowered, the police given new powers to dispose of complaints without a court, and the records kept selectively. What could possibly go wrong?

Grant McLachlan
May 269 min read


Syrup sticks: Why Christ's College can't wash away its abusive past
When TVNZ commentator Scotty Stevenson called Christ’s College students “syrup suckers” during cricket coverage this week, he inadvertently exposed something far more troubling than a schoolyard nickname.

Grant McLachlan - Column
Dec 5, 20254 min read


'Ruling the Roost': How a council staffer created her own private fiefdom.
Imagine a job where you could live the life of a lord where you rule by decree and can act with impunity. Welcome to the life of Megan Young.

Grant McLachlan - Column
May 31, 202521 min read


The serious crimes that Police won’t prosecute.
If the punishment is 14 years in prison, you’d think that Police would take the crime seriously, wouldn’t you?

Grant McLachlan
Feb 6, 202523 min read


Submission to Auckland Council in response to proposals for the northern end of Snells Beach
Submissions to the Rodney Local Board of Auckland Council on the Proposals of Megan Young and dog access rules for Snells Beach.

Grant McLachlan
Jan 29, 202517 min read


Why we should have zero tolerance for Act
Sex, drugs, fraud and bullying. What the Act Party doesn't want you to know this election.

Grant McLachlan - Column
Sep 30, 20204 min read


State agencies should know the limits of their power to spy
Click here to visit the link to the original article. Click on the image below to enlarge. The government spy agency, Security...

Grant McLachlan - New Zealand Herald - Column
Jun 22, 20183 min read


Condoning does the most damage
The late Frank Haden wrote a piece about my experience with bullying. It was the only national coverage of my trial. As more allegations...

Grant McLachlan - Column
Dec 7, 20173 min read


FACT CHECK: Did Didsbury bury his complicity in Boathouse Bay?
If you view this year’s 1 March issue of Mahurangi Matters, one thing stands out. Can you spot it?

Grant McLachlan
Sep 27, 201710 min read


Wowsers unite communities (against them)
"Wowser: an ineffably pious person who mistakes this world for a penitentiary and himself for a warder." - C.J. Dennis

HUMAN NATURE: Grant McLachlan - Stuff - Column
Nov 5, 20103 min read


The carrot and the stick
Young lawyer treats council to plates of humble brussel sprouts. Every now and again the New Plymouth District Council gets a jolly good telling off. Sometimes they deserve it too and Tuesday night's council meeting was one of those occasions. For the second time this year a smart young lawyer turned up and quoted all sorts of legal stuff and in the process pointed out bits and pieces that the council had got wrong. On the first occasion it was pointed out that chicken po

Gordon Brown - Taranaki Daily News
May 1, 20094 min read


Hawke's Bay battler for the little people
To view the original article, please click here. For Grant McLachlan, saving Battiscombe Tce's gardens is just one more battle in his campaign to stand up for the little guy. The Hawke's Bay-based professional planner and qualified lawyer travelled to New Plymouth on Tuesday to make a submission against the removal of 12 gardens encroaching on New Plymouth District Council reserve land on Waitara's Battiscombe Tce. The gardens had been due for removal yesterday. Mr McLach

Matt Rilkoff - Taranaki Daily News
Apr 30, 20092 min read


Days of bullies behind him
The Taradale broomstick trial might be the highest-profile bullying case in Hawke's Bay to got to court but it wasn't the first.

Glen Prentice - Hawke's Bay Today
Jun 1, 20021 min read




Former pupil acquitted of schoolyard knifing
A former pupil of Lindisfarne College accused of wounding another pupil with a knife in a schoolyard scuffle was acquitted yesterday.

Hawke's Bay Today - News
Aug 24, 19941 min read


Teen acquitted on charge of wounding fellow student
A Lindisfarne College seventh former whose wrist was slashed by another student had made nasty comments to his attacker nearly every day...

Hawke's Bay Today - News
Aug 24, 19941 min read


Student 'had been given a hard time'
A report on Day One of the trial.

Hawke's Bay Today - News
Aug 23, 19941 min read


Knifing in arm alleged in schoolyard scuffle
A schoolyard scuffle between two seventh-formers at Lindisfarne College, Hastings, resulted in one of the students being sliced on the arm..

Hawke's Bay Today - News
Aug 23, 19941 min read


























