Australia's Daily Telegraph prints rival's pages by mistake

The Sydney Daily Telegraph has apologised for the printing error

One of Australia's most popular tabloids has blamed a printing error after pages from a rival newspaper appeared in its Thursday edition.

The Sydney-based Daily Telegraph, a right-leaning tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, accidentally printed two pages of the liberal Sydney Morning Herald.

The pages include a letter calling for action to tackle climate change.

The Telegraph has apologised for the mistake and said it happened during the production process.

"Both papers share the same printing facility in Sydney's west," it said in a statement posted to Twitter. "We apologise for any confusion this has caused."

The mistake was spotted by a number of readers who were quick to see the funny side.

"No need to apologise," wrote Sydney Morning Herald journalist Kate McClymont. "Having some [Herald] pages is a reader bonus."

"Might have been someone's last day on the job," one Twitter user joked.

"Extreme cost cutting? From sharing printing facilities to now sharing [the] same newspaper," another wrote.

In 2018, the company that owned the Herald, Fairfax, agreed to share printing facilities with News Corp, which owns the Telegraph.

"The printing arrangements make the production of newspapers more efficient for both publishers," Greg Hywood, the former head of Fairfax, said at the time.

Fairfax later merged with another business, Nine, which is the Herald's current owner.