Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Monday launched a new online edition in Australia where print media is struggling, pledging an independent perspective and a multimedia approach.

The Guardian, the world’s third most read newspaper website, unveiled the new site with an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and a pledge it will operate without a paywall.

This is in contrast to Fairfax and News Limited which dominate the Australian media landscape and are increasingly asking readers to pay for digital content.

“Starting today, we’ll be reporting and blogging, providing commentary, debate and community interaction as well as using cutting edge data visualisation and interactive technology to engage readers in new ways”.

The Guardian says 1.1 million Australians regularly view the newspaper’s global website, making it the fourth biggest market of digital readers after Britain, the United States and Canada.

According to data service Comscore, the Guardian is the world’s third most viewed newspaper website with 38.9 million readers as of last December, behind the Daily Mail with 50.0 million and The New York Times at 48.6 million.