transparency

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 gift you can’t refuse: How naming-as-performance is failing Maori culture, public infrastructure, and the Treaty alike.

New Zealand's infrastructure is being renamed not to locate people, but to perform cultural partnership — through a gifting process that forecloses dissent, rewards commercial relationships, and quietly hollows out the very culture it claims to honour.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

5 days ago18 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

Fame for sale: Why celebrity property hype should come with a warning label

New Zealand's property media is drowning in celebrity clickbait and engineered prestige — pumping prices with star power while buyers absorb the risk when the glamour fades.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Apr 519 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

New Zealand’s entrenched culture of corruption

Australia was settled by convicts. New Zealand was settled by conmen. While Australia convicts corruption, New Zealand condones it because it never knew any better.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

Mar 2743 min read

Toothless by design: how New Zealand’s competition law fails consumers — and why it must change

Since I was a law student, I have analysed the weaknesses in New Zealand's competition laws. Today, I dusted off a 30-year old law assignment and updated a bill to fix it.

Research

Grant McLachlan

Mar 2510 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

Democracy demands more than blind obedience

Road safety campaigner Geoff Upson raised valid concerns, yet the comment section revealed a disturbing civic illiteracy about how democracy actually works.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Dec 15, 20253 min read

New Zealand's Property-Industrial Complex: A democratic warning

In his 1961 farewell address, President Eisenhower warned America about the military-industrial complex. In 2024, New Zealand faces its own existential threat: the property-industrial complex has consumed our democracy whole.

PERSONA NON GRATA

Grant McLachlan - Column

Dec 9, 20254 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.

Feature

Grant McLachlan - Column

Dec 7, 202533 min read

The clandestine campaign to dismantle Jacindamania

The falls from grace of Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern were not the result of democratic whim or policy failure, but rather the outcome of sophisticated, coordinated campaigns orchestrated by a network of right-wing political operatives who maintained the illusion of independent action while working in concert.

Feature

Grant McLachlan

Dec 6, 202531 min read

New Zealand’s corruption illusion: A Police scandal exposes the myth

This week's damning IPCA report on the McSkimming scandal exposes New Zealand's corruption paradox: ranked third globally for clean governance, yet complaints go un-investigated by compromised oversight bodies. Without a truly independent anti-corruption commission with powers like Australia's ICAC, New Zealand's squeaky-clean reputation remains an illusion sustained by institutional complicity, political cronies embedded in civil service, and media silence born from revolvin

Column

Grant McLachlan

Nov 15, 20254 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

'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.

PERSONA NON GRATA

Grant McLachlan - Column

May 31, 202521 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

Freedom fighters or freedom frauds? The Act Party’s local government hypocrisy

Act want to run candidates at this year's local body elections. But local body politicians who were previously Act candidates at the general election are retiring. Their track records speak for themselves.

Column

Grant McLachlan - Column

Apr 26, 20259 min read

Investigative journalism master class eviscerating corrupt council

In an era when media organisations frantically downsize, replacing substance with clickbait and advertorial content, a remarkable counter-narrative is unfolding in Queenstown.

Column

Grant McLachlan

Apr 16, 20256 min read