Fairfax will start charging for its online news content as part of its growth strategy for the next few years.
It comes as the media group revealed a turnaround in its fortunes, the ABC reports.
Fairfax has turned last year's $A380 million loss into an annual after-tax profit of $A282 million.
The result has been achieved by cost-cutting, lower interest charges because of reduced debt and better revenue growth in the second half of the year.
The group's chief executive, Brian McCarthy, says the market for traditional media has become far more competitive and there has been a downturn in advertising.
Fairfax says for the company to grow, some content provided on the internet and via emerging platforms will need to move to a paid structure.
The company also says with the emergence of new technologies like the i-Pad, it will be able to attract new audiences and help move readers from the more traditional forms of media, including newspapers.
