.au Domain Administration

Role

auDA is the policy authority and industry self-regulatory body for the .au domain space, charged with managing and maintaining a secure and stable domain name system. It achieves this through its main functions including: the development and implementation of domain name policy in the .au domain space, the licensing of 2LD registry operators, the accreditation and licensing of registrars and facilitating .au dispute resolutions.

Through its sponsorship agreement with ICANN, auDA represents .au at ICANN meetings and other international fora, and is also responsible for the management of the .au domain name system zone file. The zone file is a text file which contains a list of DNS servers for the second-level domains in the .au domain space and contains the IP addresses of DNS servers for .au and second-level domains, where those DNS servers themselves are within .au.

auDA also oversees and deploys new technologies and initiatives in the .au name space, which includes Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) auDA's own Information Security Standard (ISS). The ISS security standard was developed by a security group formed by auDA after a compromise on a registrars data systems. The ISS standard is based on ISO 27001. The Total Internet Group comprising ddns.com.au, cheaperdomains.com.au & ib.com.au are the first registrars to be accredited in 2013 a world first for the domain name industry .

Domain name policies

See Also: .au § Registration Policies and Rules

Informed by the original domain eligibility criteria developed by Robert Elz, auDA has maintained a policy of requiring registrants to have either an exact match or a "close and substantial connection" to their desired domain name. This "policy rich" approach to the name space, begun by Elz and continued by auDA, has meant the .au domain space has avoided the cybersquatting and other illicit uses of domains prevalent in other more permissive domains.

In 2016, the auDA board announced its decision to introduce direct registrations in .au – for example "yourname.au" – after the submission of the final report of the 2015 Names Policy Panel. This follows on from the introduction of direct registration in the .uk and .nz domain spaces. Direct registration was due to be implemented in 2017 but did not go ahead at that time. It was launched on 24 March 2022.

Disputes and complaints

auDA is responsible for handling complaints and reducing fraud in domain name registration. This responsibility includes complaints regarding .au domain names, referred to as domain complaints and complaints concerning .au registrars and resellers, known as industry complaints.

This responsibility does not extend to complaints about the content or use of websites, which may be handled by the Australian Communications & Media Authority, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, a state or territory fair trading office, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, or through civil court proceedings, depending on the nature and content of the complaint.

Domain complaints may relate to:

• domain name complaints under the .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP);
• licensing complaints, including registrant eligibility;
• domain transfers;
• prohibited misspellings;
• other breaches of domain name licence terms and conditions.

Industry complaints may relate to the management or services provided by an auDA accredited registrar, breaches of auDA codes of practice or other policies. In some cases, this has involved legal action.

.au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP) Complaints

See: .au § .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP)

Licensing Complaints

A licensing complaint may be made on the allegation that the domain name registrant does not comply with the auDA Licensing or Eligibility Rules applicable to the domain name.

Since April 2021, licensing complaints are handled directly by the domain name's registrar of record.

The sole remedy in a licensing complaint is cancellation of the domain name. Unlike auDRP complaints, the domain name cannot be transferred to the complainant. Once cancelled, the domain name again becomes available to the general public for registration.

Court Proceedings

Domain names may also be subject to court proceedings and orders. Participants in the auDRP Process are required to declare whether or not the relevant domain name is subject to a court proceeding.

For example, an Australian Court may make orders concerning a domain name on the basis of trade mark infringement, passing off, or misleading or deceptive conduct.

Membership and organisational structure

auDA is a member based organisation. The .au member program is open to anyone eligible to hold a .au domain name. Members are entitled to vote at General Meetings of auDA and to nominate and elect representatives to the board of directors.

The auDA Board is ultimately responsible for directing the organisation. There are two distinct categories of directors, appointed directors and elected directors. Appointed directors are approved by the board. Elected directors are appointed via a ballot of .au members.

Rosemary Sinclair AM has been auDA's CEO since March 2020. Her career spans the telecommunications, technology and energy sectors, with experience as a non-executive and managing director. Alan Cameron AO is the current Independent Chair of auDA having commenced the role in November 2019. Alan has an extensive legal background, more recently has worked as a consultant and company director.

Previous Board Chairs include Chris Leptos and Stuart Benjamin. Previous CEOs include Cameron Boardman and Chris Disspain.

The Australian Government undertook a review of Australia's .au domain management in 2018, to ensure it remains fit for purpose in serving the needs of Australians online. auDA welcomed the government review.

.au direct

On 24 March 2022, auDA launched a new namespace, .au direct which provides a greater choice of names for Australian websites and email addresses. The new namespace allows Australians to register domain names directly before the .au, (i.e., example.au).

The release of .au direct compliments existing Australian namespaces, including com.au, net.au, gov.au and org.au, and provides shorter, simpler Australian domain names.

Priority Allocation

When .au direct was introduced on 24 March 2022, all .au domain names registered prior to its launch were placed on a Priority Hold under the Priority Allocation Process. Priority Allocation provided an opportunity for those holding an existing .au domain name licence to apply for the matching .au direct name if they wished to do so. E.g. the licence holder of example.com.au could apply for example.au. The six-month Priority Allocation period opened on 24 March 2022, and ended on 20 September 2022. After that time, matching .au direct domain names without a priority application become available to be registered by eligible members of the public.

.au direct domain names proved popular with more than 716,000 .au direct names registered between March and December 2022.

Open top and second-level domains managed by auDA

• .asn.au – For non-commercial organisations. Includes associations incorporated in any Australian State or Territory, political parties, trade unions, sporting or special interest clubs, charities or non-profit organisations.
• .au – For anyone with a validated Australian presence. Includes Australian citizens and residents and commercial entities registered in Australia.
• .com.au – For commercial purposes. Includes commercial entities, currently registered and trading in Australia, as well as commercial products and services.
• .id.au – For Australian individuals (citizens, residents).
• .net.au – For commercial purposes. Includes commercial entities, currently registered and trading in Australia, as well as commercial products and services.
• .org.au – For non-for-profit entities. Includes associations incorporated in any Australian State or Territory, political parties, trade unions, charities or non-profit organisations.

Closed second-level domains

• .edu.au – For educational and training institutions, managed on behalf of auDA by Education Services Australia.
• .gov.au – For Australian Federal, State, Territory and Local government entities. Managed by the Digital Transformation Agency.
• .csiro.au – For the sole use of the CSIRO, managed by the CSIRO.

Geographic second-level domains

Community geographic domain names were added in August 2006.

• .act.au – Australian Capital Territory
• .nsw.au – New South Wales
• .nt.au – Northern Territory
• .qld.au – Queensland
• .sa.au – South Australia
• .tas.au – Tasmania
• .vic.au – Victoria
• .wa.au – Western Australia