Dee McLachlan has lived in Southern Africa, the United Kingdom, and California, worked in Sri Lanka, and now resides in Australia. Over a career spanning more than three decades, she has produced television series, directed nine feature films, written a series of children's books, and authored several non-fiction works, including The Child Protection Racket.

In 2013, she founded GumshoeNews.com, an independent news and commentary platform featuring a diverse group of contributors. The site has since published more than 4,000 articles covering issues ranging from government accountability and media integrity to child protection, family law, and human rights.

Dee first collaborated with producer Andrea Buck in 1992 on the road thriller Deadly Chase. The pair have since worked together on numerous projects, most notably the award-winning feature film The Jammed. Andrea Buck will once again join Dee as Executive Producer on Hostage of the State, continuing their creative partnership that has endured for more than three decades.

What happens when the child protectors become the enemy of the State?

Screenplay by Dee McLachlan

Drawing on documented accounts, court transcripts, and recordings, Hostage of the State explores how families become entangled in child protection and court systems — and the profound and devastating consequences that follow. Unlike Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which imagines the psychological and moral horror of separating children from their mothers within a fictional dystopian society, this film is grounded in real accounts. It brings that same sense of unease and disbelief into a contemporary, recognisable world, raising confronting questions about transparency, institutional power, and governance in what is often called the “lucky country.” These disturbing accounts are not isolated incidents — they suggest a deeper and more complex reality operating largely beyond public scrutiny.

Contemporary audiences have a strong appetite for stories that place children in jeopardy — particularly those grounded in real-world events. Sound of Freedom — a film following a high-risk mission to rescue a young girl — brought international attention to the issue of child exploitation and trafficking. Produced on a budget of approximately US$14 million, it went on to generate more than US$250 million at the global box office — a phenomenon rarely repeated.