John Fairfax Holdings Limited
ACN 008 663 161

SYDNEY, October 22, 1999 – John Fairfax Holding Limited [ASX:FXJ] today welcomed the draft report issued by the Productivity Commission.

Mr Fred Hilmer, Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax, said:

"This is a serious and valuable contribution to the debate on the shape of Australian media policy.

We need to study the report in depth and we intend to make further submissions.

The recommendations on datacasting validate the chorus of consensus on the key issues. If embraced by the Government, they would facilitate access by all Australians to the digital television age.

The recommendations on repealing the ownership rules, provided there is more open access to broadband capacity, are generally responsive to our concerns about the required sequencing and timing of deregulation.

The report’s recommendations would allow Fairfax to grow as a media company, and to expand its presence in Australia. They are in the interests of shareholder value, and our desire to build our core businesses and provide new platforms for growth."

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For further information, please contact:

Bruce Wolpe, Corporate Affairs - Telephone: (02) 9282 2822

Note to editors

John Fairfax Holdings [ASX:FXJ] is Australia’s leading publishing group. Its mastheads include The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, The Age, The Sun-Herald, and BRW. In addition, the company publishes financial and consumer magazines, and provides online and interactive services. In 1999, the company had revenues of over $1.1 billion. Fairfax, through F2, its wholly owned subsidiary for its online and interactive businesses, is Australia’s leading content provider on the Internet, with more than 1.4 million page views, per day across a network of sites including news, business and finance, sport, auctions, real estate, employment, IT, career, and city guides and directories.

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