The announcement today by NewsCorp to axe the print editions of newspaper mastheads which have served their communities for more than a century is tragic.

It is gut-wrenching to see it come to this; that we will lose our daily, bi-weekly and weekly papers in Mackay, Proserpine, the Whitsundays, Bowen and the Burdekin – which is just about every centre in my electorate.

It’s basically the entire APN stable of mastheads which changed hands about four years ago.

I know many of my constituents will mourn the habit of a lifetime – to buy the local newspaper to read each morning, to check the ‘hatch, match and dispatch’, and to find out what’s relevant to them in their home town.

Yes, the news is going ‘online’ but an online publication is a very different beast to a newspaper.

I will be writing to the management of my regional papers to ask how they intend to provide a viable news service for the regional communities in my electorate who are being affected by this.

How many job losses will there be from this wipe-out of local mastheads?

Can they give a guarantee that they will still base reporters and photographers in Mackay, in Proserpine and the Whitsundays, in Bowen and in the Burdekin to cover that local news that readers find invaluable?

What are the effects on other small businesses such as our newsagents?

It is a sad day – a tragic development for the regions, and I will certainly be seeking more answers.

I also encourage people to take note of a proposed campaign by my colleague Michelle Landry who plans to start a petition on the issue.