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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

“Choosing the tallest dwarf”: The rot in New Zealand politics

Every serious failure in this country has already been diagnosed, costed and written up by people the taxpayer hired to do it. What is on offer on 7 November is not a set of remedies. It is a choice of brands.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

8 hours ago20 min read

How National’s business model is ruining farming

Six parties debated in the dairy capital. Nobody named the thing killing the primary sector.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Sep 63 min read

Four spokesmen, one script, no answer on the bill

Bridges, Hartwich, Abernethy and now Genesis’s own chief executive have all run the same defence this winter. Watch what happens whenever someone asks them a number.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Aug 313 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

Why fixing New Zealand's electricity market would wipe billions off the sharemarket

Contact Energy's record profit is being reported as a winter windfall. It is closer to the going rate for a market built to protect scarcity.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Aug 113 min read

The economist who can’t see what he doesn’t want to fix

Oliver Hartwich says breaking up the gentailers won’t cut your power bill. He’s right — but for the wrong reasons. The real solution is one his funders would never allow him to propose.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Apr 1617 min read

The $16 billion battery that runs on electricity it doesn’t have

There is a particular kind of infrastructure madness that only becomes visible once you draw a map.

Grant McLachlan

Mar 306 min read

Rivers of wasted power: How New Zealand's three great hydro systems underperform their physical potential — and who benefits from the gap

If the Waikato/Tongariro, Clutha, and Waitaki hydro schemes operated to its potential, it would eliminate the need for coal and gas generation - and lower electricity prices substantially.

Research

Grant McLachlan

Mar 2441 min read

Power Failure: What is wrong with the New Zealand electricity industry

Three decades after the most radical electricity market reforms in the developed world, New Zealanders are paying record prices for power generated by assets their grandparents built. Here is a comprehensive investigation into what went wrong — and what a genuine solution looks like.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

Feb 2813 min read