.au is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. It was created on 5March 1986. Domain name policy is managed by .au Domain Administration (auDA).
History The domain name was originally allocated by Jon Postel, operator of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) to Kevin Robert Elz of Melbourne University in 1986.
After an approximately five-year process in the 1990s, the Internet industry created a self-regulatory body called .au Domain Administration (auDA) to operate the domain.
It obtained assent from ICANN in 2001, and commenced operating a new competitive regime for domain registration on 1July 2002.
Since this new regime, any registration has to be ordered via a registrar.
Operation Oversight of .au is by auDA, a not-for-profit organisation whose membership is derived from Internet organisations, industry members and interested individuals.
The organisation operates with the endorsement of the Australian Government and with the delegated authority of ICANN.
Policy for .au is devised by policy development panels. These panels are convened by auDA and combine public input with industry representation to derive policy.
The day-to-day operation of the .au registry technical facility is tendered out by auDA.
AusRegistry has performed the registry role since the initial tender in 2002.
In December 2017, Afilias won a competitive tender process to take over the running of the registry from AusRegistry.
The registry does not sell domain registration services direct to the consumer, rather consumers who wish to register a domain must do so via a domain name registrar.
After the industry's liberalisation in 2002, there is an active competitive market in registrars with a variety of prices and services.
In 2008, auDA changed its longstanding policy and allowed changes in ownership of .au domains. Although the secondary market was initially slow to take off, there have recently been signs of increasing maturity in the .au aftermarket culminating in the record $125,500 sale of investmentproperty.com.au.
The auDA information security standard (ISS) is an industry initiative aimed at improving the security of .au registrar businesses, protecting .au registrants and enhancing the overall stability and integrity of the .au domain space.
auDA introduced the ISS in October 2013 as a mandatory requirement, with all accredited registrars required to be certified as ISS compliant within 24 months.
Structure The naming rules for .au require registrations under second-level categories that describe a type of entity. .com.au, for example, is designed for commercial entities. This follows a similar allocation policy to that formerly used in other countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.
Registrations are currently permitted below a second-level domain, such as "yourname.com.au".
In April 2016, auDA announced it would introduce registrations directly at the second level, such as "yourname.au".
Direct registrations were due to be implemented in 2017, although an ongoing debate on how cybersquatting would be mitigated led to a delay, with a new launch date of 24March 2022.
Registration of a .au domain is completed through a reseller, known as a registrar, with the registry acting as the wholesale provider. auDA manages domain name policy as the ICANN and Australian Government-endorsed manager of the .au DNS.
Second-level domains +DomainIntended usersNotescom.auCommercial entitiesN/Anet.au Historically only ISPs, but the use has been broadened.org.auCharities and non-profit organisations Historically only for organisations that did not fit in other categories.edu.au Educational institutionsN/A.gov.auGovernments and their departments.asn.auIncorporated associationsExamples include but are not limited to political parties, trade unions, sporting and special interest clubs.id.auIndividualsBy real name or common alias.csiro.auCSIROCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The .edu.au, .gov.au and .csiro.au namespaces are referred to as "closed" namespaces, since registration is not available to the general public. All other second-level namespaces are referred to as "open" namespaces.
According to an annual report filed by .au Domain Association (auDA) in Q4 2022, one in six .au domains were a second-level domain.
.au Direct namespace The direct second-level domain namespace, marketed as ".au Direct" has been made available to the public from 24 March 2022. The .au Direct namespace is intended to complement rather than replace the existing second-level domain namespaces and to provide domain holders with the option to register "shorter, simpler domain names".
Unlike the existing second-level domain namespaces, there is no restriction on the domain names that can be registered in the .au Direct namespace, provided the domain name applicant satisfies the Australian presence requirement.
In 2019, auDA released a priority implementation policy, whereby existing domain name holders could apply for priority registration of a matching domain name in the new .au Direct namespace. Three priority categories exist: +CategoryEligibilityCategory 1Holders of domain names created prior to 4 February 2018Category 2Holders of domain names created on or after 4 February 2018 but prior to 24 March 2022General AvailabilityAll other applicants Eligible domain name holders could apply during an allocated sunrise period commencing 24 March 2022 until 20 September 2022.
For example, the holders of domain.com.au, domain.org.au and domain.net.au were each eligible to apply for priority registration of domain.au during the sunrise period.
If there were more than one priority application for a given domain name, priority is allocated as follows: Category 1 applications had priority over Category 2 applications. Where there are two or more Category 1 applications, priority was allocated by agreement between the respective holders, with allocation being placed on hold until consensus is reached or there is only one remaining Category 1 applicant. Where there are two or more Category 2 applications, priority was allocated to the holder with the earliest creation date. Any unclaimed domain names were released to general availability at the end of the sunrise period.
State and Territory Namespaces
Introduced in 2004, "community geographic domain names" (CGDNs), later renamed to "state and territory namespaces",.au Domain Administration Rules: Licensing (2023–06). Accessed 1 September 2023. are intended to be used for "community websites that reflect community interests such as local business, tourism, historical information, culture, sporting groups, local events and news".au Domain Administration (2008). Policy Rules and Guidelines for Community Geographic Domain Names (CGDNs) (2008-04) . Accessed on 23 November 2009. of a local community. These domains were initially managed by the .au Community Domains Trust (auCD) on behalf of auDA. The funding of auCD was provided from a ballot of locality names in the .com.au and .net.au domain spaces; previously, any locality with a postcode had been restricted from being registered as a commercial domain name..au Domain Administration (13 May 2005). Release of geographic names in com.au and net.au . Media release. Accessed on 23 November 2009..au Community Domains Trust . .au Community Domains Trust: About Us . Accessed on 23 November 2009.
CGDNs use the state or territory's common abbreviation as the second level of the domain. For example, a community based in Victoria would receive a domain ending in ".vic.au", a Northern Territory community would use ".nt.au", and so on. The third level of the domain must be an addressable locality within that state or territory, of the form "townname.vic.au". Where a name is duplicated within a state – for instance, between a smaller town, and a suburb of a larger town or city — the locality name may be suffixed with the name of the local government area, town or city to which it is associated (e.g. "suburbname-cityname.vic.au").
Holders of CGDNs must be "a legally registered, not-for-profit entity; and [...] representative of the local community for the purpose of holding the domain name licence." In particular, commercial entities and local governments are not permitted to hold a CGDN in their own right; they are however permitted to hold membership in such entities set up to hold a CGDN.
As of November 2009, the auCD site claims 91 active CGDNs across Australia,.au Community Domains Trust. Live CGDN websites . Accessed on 23 November 2009. with a further 115 either approved or awaiting approval..au Community Domains Trust. CGDN websites coming soon . Accessed on 23 November 2009.
Third-level domains The use of ".gov.au" as a second level domain is for Australian Federal government and for its initiatives, while the use of a third-level domain, being an Australian state abbreviation, is an identifier that the domain belongs to either the relevant state government or a local government inside the state. The ".edu.au" is also split up into state-based categories in most cases.
auDA has delegated responsibility of the .edu.au domain to Australian Information and Communications Technology in Education Committee (AICTEC), which formed a specialist sub-committee, .edu.au Domain Administration Committee (eDAC).
Schools use a domain name that reflect their locale, and these state-based third-level domains are managed independently by the states. For example, a school in Western Australia would register "schoolname.wa.edu.au". Similarly, replacing the state part of these domains, Victoria would use ".vic", Queensland would use ".qld", South Australia would use ".sa", Tasmania would use ".tas", Northern Territory would use ".nt" and the Australian Capital Territory would use ".act". However, after a change of internet services in Queensland State Schools their domain names were changed from "schoolname.qld.edu.au" to "schoolname.eq.edu.au" ("eq" is an abbreviation of the government department name "Education Queensland"). This is not the case for private schools in Queensland. Often, domains can even contain a fourth level: for instance, a NSW public school might have the domain "schoolname.schools.nsw.edu.au".
Tertiary institutions are typically exempt from requiring state-based distinctions. For example, Edith Cowan University in Western Australia has a domain of "ecu.edu.au" rather than "ecu.wa.edu.au", RMIT University in Victoria uses "rmit.edu.au" rather than "rmit.vic.edu.au". This difference can be associated with states having responsibility for primary and secondary education while the Commonwealth has responsibility for tertiary education; tertiary institutions often having a presence in multiple states.
State/organisationGovernmentabbreviationSchoolabbreviationAustralian Capital Territoryact.gov.auact.edu.auNew South Walesnsw.gov.auschools.nsw.edu.auNorthern Territorynt.gov.aunt.edu.auQueenslandqld.gov.aueq.edu.auSouth Australiasa.gov.ausa.edu.auTasmaniatas.gov.autas.edu.auVictoriavic.gov.auvic.edu.auWestern Australiawa.gov.auwa.edu.auCatholic Education SystemN/Acatholic.edu.au
Historic second-level domains Some second-level domain names are no longer actively used. Whilst registrations are grandfathered for some, no new registrations are accepted.