Is New Zealand the best democracy money can buy?
We are almost certainly not the most corrupt country in the world. We may simply be the cheapest to influence — and the least likely to check the receipts.
Grant McLachlan - Column
Jun 26 min read
The kids who lit matches in the mine
A motorway extension, a mortgagee golf-course sale, a $40,250 donation and a rezoning bid — all inside the same fortnight. Horncastle and Brooks aren't the canary in the mine. They're the kids who lit matches inside the underground network Auckland built.
Grant McLachlan
May 247 min read
When the journalist is the target
How a year-old apology became a two-week pressure campaign — and how the architecture of New Zealand’s astroturf industry was used to take out a wahine Maori political editor in election year, while the Prime Minister smiled.
Grant McLachlan - Column
May 1228 min read
Marking their own homework: Why the Anti-Corruption Taskforce pilot makes the case for a truly independent agency.
The Serious Fraud Office has just audited the public sector. The most useful thing in its report is the silence about who audits the SFO.
Grant McLachlan
May 74 min read
A simpler council? Auckland tried that — and got the country's biggest bribery case.
Hawke's Bay's mayors are being asked to design something Auckland already failed to deliver. The order of operations matters more than the merger.
Grant McLachlan
May 65 min read
Stupid is as stupid does: How the Police buried a complaint, only implicating themselves
Imagine committing a serious crime in front of a judge, registrar, and Crown Prosecutor. It was all documented and the Chief Justice and Criminal Bar Association were notified. Yet, the Police covered it up, which only exposed their complicity.
Grant McLachlan
Apr 2624 min read
Seven steps to a productive economy
New Zealand's addiction to property speculation is strangling the productive economy. Seven practical reforms — from taxing land and capital gains to protecting elite soils and standardising public infrastructure — could redirect investment where it is actually needed.
Grant McLachlan
Apr 17 min read
Two bills that could end New Zealand’s dirty politics era — if politicians have the courage to pass them
I have documented corruption and abuse of electoral systems. These two bills provide the tools to fix it.
Grant McLachlan
Mar 299 min read
Would they go to jail? Comparing New Zealand's corruption gap with Australia's integrity framework
New Zealand lacks the robust anti-corruption infrastructure that exists across every Australian state and at the federal level.
Grant McLachlan - Column
Dec 7, 202529 min read
