legal | 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 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

4 days ago17 min read

Medals, alleged war crimes, and the long road to court

Australia's most decorated living soldier was arrested last week. The alleged murders began a year before he was awarded the Victoria Cross. If the law had acted then, the medal would never have been awarded. That is not an argument for acquittal. It is an argument for why this trial matters.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

Apr 1330 min read

Crooked Cop Culture: How New Zealand Police condoned a culture of wrongful convictions

A generation of Supreme Court reversals has exposed a disturbing pattern at the heart of New Zealand policing — evidence fabricated, witnesses coerced, disclosures withheld, and vulnerable suspects railroaded into cells they had no business occupying.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

Apr 628 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.

Research

Grant McLachlan

Mar 299 min read

Price gouging at the pump: the regulator's empty tank

In Australia, the government regulator is investigating price gouging by petrol companies. Here, the Commerce Commission told us to download the Gaspy app. Why?

Column

Grant McLachlan

Mar 2310 min read

The unintended consequences of the gang patch ban

New Zealand's gang patch ban has removed visible insignia from public view—but gang membership has grown by over 700. Has the legislation made communities safer, or has it simply made an existing threat harder to identify and more attractive to join?

Research

Grant McLachlan

Jan 3128 min read

In Cold Blood: The calculating mind of Clayton Weatherston

I sat in the same finance lectures as Clayton Weatherston. I watched him absorb a lesson on the economics of murder—how killers weigh costs against benefits, how provocation could reduce a sentence, how the average murderer served fifteen years. When he stabbed Sophie Elliott 216 times, was he running the numbers? Eighteen years later, he faces the Parole Board. Everyone miscalculated—Clayton, Sophie, and the politicians who abolished provocation thinking it would save lives.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

Jan 2922 min read

Politics101: The art of the false allegation

Political scandals involving allegations that are later unsubstantiated or dismissed represent a complex intersection of media, law enforcement, and democratic accountability.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

Aug 4, 202512 min read

Why Police Commissioner Richard Chambers is the problem and should resign.

Instead of investigating complaints that a police station was operated by unvetted and unsupervised volunteers, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers instead abused police resources to dig dirt on the complainant to use as an excuse to discredit the complainant and dismiss the complaint. I sent this email to the Commissioner, calling for him to resign.

Unleashed

Grant McLachlan

May 27, 202515 min read