Our free newspaper, Lizard News, is focused on the rapidly developing sub-region of the Western Bay of Plenty, north of Tauranga. There is a unique community of local interest here.

The Lizard News is a colour tabloid for the rural and urban areas of the west of the Western Bay of Plenty District, and is delivered from the Wairoa River at Bethlehem to Waihī Beach; including Te Puna, Whakamārama, Matakana Island, Ōmokoroa, Pahoia, Apata, Aongatete, Katikati, Tahāwai, Bowentown and Athenree.

It is a family business, run by a former NZ individual journalist of the year, Matthew Farrell, and his wife Liz. Matthew was formerly Radio New Zealand National’s Bay of Plenty regional correspondent and previous editor of the Matamata Chronicle newspaper. He also worked on the launch of Radio Live producing news for Martin Devlin’s programme and before that at Sky News in London. Liz is the former manager of the LEGO Club Magazine in the UK and now works at Ōmokoroa Library.

Matthew says while national and international news gathering appears to be in a period of turmoil, people remain interested in their local area.
“It’s important not to lose our sense of community. That’s everything from helping a neighbour through to shopping locally and contributing to local authority planning.
We’ll keep a keen eye on the economy, infrastructure, business and housing development, and report that news to our rural and urban readership.”

Get in touch to contribute an article or if you have advertising or news queries.