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
Who watches the watchmen? The slow death of New Zealand investigative journalism — and the industry that could bring it back
The lack of investigative journalism is costing New Zealanders - and it is cheaper that industries affected sponsor it.
Grant McLachlan
Apr 2313 min read
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.
Grant McLachlan
Apr 1518 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.
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.
Grant McLachlan
Apr 519 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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Grant McLachlan - Column
Dec 7, 202529 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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Grant McLachlan
Apr 16, 20256 min read
