The West Australian newspaper has reduced its staff base by nearly 9 percent, after voluntary redundancies exceeded the desired 5 percent, ABC News reported Thursday.

Early in the month the paper announced that it would seek voluntary redundancies in an attempt to cut 5 percent of its work force.

However, company secretary, Peter Bryant, today announced that 130 staff had applied for the redundancy offer.

"Due to the level of voluntary redundancies received, the Group has achieved a 8.6 per cent reduction in FTE [full-time equivalent] staffing levels," he said.

The lay off package will cost the company around $14 million but will amount to $9 million in yearly savings, according to Bryant.

He says the one-off cost of funding the job losses will be just under $14 million, but should lead to annual savings of about $9 million.