With the countdown on to Seven’s new The Nightly – which launches tonight (Monday) at 6pm AEST – editor-in-chief Anthony De Ceglie has laid the paper’s cards on the table.

De Ceglie says Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media is launching the new national digital newspaper “because we believe we can make a difference… and we believe the country needs it.

With no paywall – unlike stablemate TheWest – is has announced founding advertisers including Harvey Norman and mining giants Hancock Prospecting, Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources, Woodside and BHP. With whom an introductory statement saying “business is continually being strangled by regulations, red tape and a bloated self-serving bureaucracy”, is likely to be popular.

The statement, for which De Ceglie (pictured with editor Sarah-Jane Tasker) takes responsibility, continues: “Ministers love to put on hi-vis and throw around the word “productivity”, all the while introducing layers of industrial relations laws that fly in the very face of economic ambition.

“Australia should be competing on the world stage, but instead, industry is hobbled by over-zealous environmental bodies which have been overtaken by fanatics.

What was once a Bob Hawke-inspired environmental movement to protect national treasures such as the Franklin River and Kakadu has devolved into a small group of callow radicals not above hoodwinking Indigenous peoples to carry out their own cynical agendas.”

The Nightly promises a 24/7 website and app – including breaking news alerts and subscriber emails – with content from the New York Times and The Economist.

Designed with the help of Google, the website promises to be user-first, digital-first and mobile-first.

With De Ceglie as editor-in-chief, the new news site has Tasker – previously business editor of the West Australian – as editor, leading a team which includes former editor-in-chief of The Australian Christopher Dore, Sarah Blake, Matthew Quagliotto, Kristin Shorten, Wenlei Ma and Ben McClellan.

SWM will also draw on Seven’s TV talent pool, including David Koch, Mark Riley, Michael Usher and Gemma Acton. AFL star Leigh Matthews and cricketing icons Justin Langer and Mitchell Johnson will also contribute content.