The move was announced in a report from the New Names Advisory Panel, which was formed by auDA (the Australian Domain Administration) to oversee the formation of new 2LDs to complement existing ones, such as com.au and net.au.
The panel received 17 proposals for new 2LDs, and has already extended support for geographic domain names, which formed the basis of three proposals. However, of the other proposals only one - the retention of current domain conf.au - was accepted for recommendation to auDA. This domain is currently closed to new registrations.
Most of the 2LDs were rejected because there was no evidence of support for the domain from the intended user group. In December four domains were put on a short list: catholic.au, conf.au, research.au and uni.au/university.au. The catholic domain name was rejected because it conflicts with a "basic policy principle" that a 2LD should not be created for a single organisation. The only Australian domain created in this situation is for the CSIRO.
The domains proposed by the Australian Vice Chancellors' Committee, research.au and uni.au/university.au, were rejected due to concerns about setting objective eligibility criteria coupled with concern over the closed nature of the domain.
The panel - as well as the auDA board - has indicated a clear preference for new domains to be "open", meaning they are open to all users subject to eligibility criteria and are administered by auDA. By contrast, "closed" domains are restricted for use by a defined community of interest, and each is administered by the relevant peak body of that community.
The panel also noted that a new 2LD should widen the choice of domain names available to users of the Australian DNS, and that domains that duplicated existing domains (for example biz.au duplicating com.au) did not increase that choice.
Although the panel did recommend conf.au be retained as a domain for short-term events such as conferences, it did have some provisos.
"The panel notes that auDA would need to undertake further consultation to develop suitable eligibility and allocation criteria for the 2LD, and that a marketing campaign would be useful in promoting its relevance among intended users," read the panel's report.
We think that as an alternative to new subdomains,
the Registry should rather permit registrations
at .au. Domains at .au are shorter and therefore easier to remember.
Remember the situation as it is now:
Since July 1 2002 there are new rules for Australian domain names:
The net.au and com.au-domains are still restricted to Australian Companies, but also a foreign company licenced to trade in Australia or an owner or applicant of an Australian Registered Trade Mark are entiteled to com.au-domains and net.au-domains, as the website www.au-domains.com explains.
If you have already managed to secure your com.au-domain, you should also register your
Name at net.au, as no other can disturb your marketing position by registering this name. By the way:
Your changes at search engines are higher with two domains.
The name rules have also changed since July 1 2002:The domain names should be identical
with the companies name or the trade marks, but can also be an acronym or abbreviation of the business name or trademark.
And it is also sufficient, that the domain names are otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant, because they refer to a product, service, an event, an activity, a venue or a profession of the registrant.
Since July 1 2002 also one important rule has changed: The number of domain names per applicant is no longer limited. In other words: You can register as many domain names as you want or need.
You can read more detailled information about com.au and net.au-domains at http://www.au-domains.com
id.au
If you have no company, you can register .id.au: Every Australian and every Resident in Australia is entiteled to register id.au-domain names.
The domain name must reflect your personal name, be an abbreviation or acronym of the name, or be derived from one or more words of your world or contain one or more words of your name.
The number of domain names per applicant is no longer limited. In other words: You can register as many domain names as you want or need.
You can get more detailed information about id.au-domains at http://www.au-domains.com
asn.au
An association, political party, a trade union, a sporting or interesting club is entiteled to register asn.au-domains.
The domain names should be identical with the association's name, but can also be an acronym or abbreviation of the association's name.
And it is also sufficient, that the domain names are otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant, because they refer to a product, service, an event, an activity, a venue or a profession of the registrant.
The number of domain names per applicant is no longer limited. In other words: You can register as many domain names as you want or need.
You can study more detailled information about asn.au-domains at http://www.au-domains.com
org.au
Registrants must be a non profit organisation or charity operating in Australia.
The domain names should be identical with the organization's name, but can also be an acronym or abbreviation of the name or trademark.
And it is also sufficient, that the domain names are otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant, because they refer to a product, service, an event, an activity, a venue or a profession of the registrant.
The number of domain names per applicant is no longer limited. In other words: You can register as many domain names as you want or need.
You can get more informations about org.au-domain registration at http://au-domains.com
If you want to read the new rules in detail, you should go to http://www.domainregistry.de/aupolicies.html
Secura Ltd.
ICANN accredited Registrar
Am Alten Posthof 4-6
50667 Cologne
secura@domainregistry.de
http://www.au-domains.com
+49 221 9252272
+49 221 2571213