Britain's The Guardian newspaper continues to spearhead print media's move to a digital news cycle, with the launch of an Australian online edition on Monday.

It's the paper's third international digital edition, the latest move away from the original, local Manchester Guardian, founded in 1821, and towards a global news brand. Now a national paper in the UK and international multimedia organisation, The Guardian is credited with breaking the 2011 News International phone hacking scandal, which led to the eventual closure of News of The World.

Guardian Australia Editor-in-chief Katharine Viner said the independent UK newspaper was eager to capitalise on its existing online Australian audience.

“We already have a large and loyal Australian readership, who tell us they want more of what we do,” she said.

Though the launch of the Australian venture, funded by businessman Graeme Wood, has had its share of teething problems.

Last week, News Limited Network's editorial director Campbell Reid likened The Guardian Australia to the Australian version of Playboy, according to The Australian.

"It's like the Australian version of Playboy… Who needs the Australian version of The Guardian when I can log to British version of The Guardian, which is the mothership?" Mr Reid said.

The site's domain name,'/australia' tagged on to the original Guardian's homepage, has also proved problematic, with some users visiting Victoria's Swan Hill Guardian news site, at theguardian.com.au, instead.

It shouldn't be a problem for long though; last Friday, Guardian News and Media's chief digital officer Tanya Cordrey announced plans to relaunch later this year as 'theguardian.com', consolodating the UK, US (guardiannews.com), Australian and mobile versions.

"We're ready to take the next step on our bold digital journey," Ms Cordrey said.

"Investing in digital is crucial to the future of journalism and publishing..."