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What you say about us …
Amine Oulad Brahim, Duesseldorf, Germany: “I wanted to start by saying how much I loved the free newspaper. That’s how I discovered Mangawhai Focus. I actually cut out the title from one of the newspapers (after I read it) and framed it – and it’s now hanging in my living room back home in Germany. It also made me realise how powerful projects like this are – your local newspaper now has a reach of at least 19,000 kilometres.” February 2026
Michelle Carmichael, Facebook: “Congratulations, team, on your 500th issue of the Mahurangi Matters! You make an important contribution to our communities with your coverage of our local news. Long may it continue.” March 2025
Deborah Colson, Community Hub Activator, Pest Free Hibiscus Coast: “Just a quick note to say thank you so much for your support of our event. It was really well-attended, with some people specifically mentioning that they had seen your article. We gave out 36 trap boxes in a two-hour event, with a bunch more that were pre-ordered that we will be delivering in the next week or so. A great success! Many thanks!” May 2023
Helene Blomfield, Estuary Arts volunteer: “Thank you so much for the chestnut article – it generated lots of tickets and also offers of help. It was amazing and made me a bit famous! We had a wonderful day raising over $1500 for the Estuary Arts Centre.” June 2021
Local Matters 2005 Ltd is the umbrella company for three free community newspapers – Mahurangi Matters, Hibiscus Matters and Mangawhai Focus – which are delivered to letterboxes and businesses fortnightly. The company also runs the website localmatters.co.nz, a number of social media pages and publishes the annual tourist publication Destination. Local Matters is owned by Mahurangi local Jannette Thompson.
Mahurangi Matters is an established publication which has been coming out in one form or another for over 30 years. Celebrating its 500th issue in March 2025. Based in the area’s main town of Warkworth, its distribution of 15,200 papers stretches from Puhoi to Waipu, coast to coast. Hibiscus Matters had its first paper published in August 2007. It started with a circulation of just 16,000, which has ballooned to over 25,800, reflecting Auckland’s push north to the Hibiscus Coast. Mangawhai Focus opened in September 2024 and distributes to an increasing distribution area of 7500. Warkworth, Silverdale and Mangawhai North Forest are identified in Auckland’s Unitary Plan as satellite growth centres, bringing many challenges as former holiday destinations morph into residential suburbs.
All papers are unashamedly hyper local with stories that reflect the diverse interests of our readers, from rural news in the north to health, education, sport, history, politics and urban growth issues. Our journalists pride themselves on getting the story first and many of our stories are subsequently picked up by national broadcasters and other media.
We have a legion of loyal local businesses that have been supporting the papers for many years and our advertising sizes are designed to cater for all budgets, big and small. Generating business for these companies is part and parcel of why we exist.
