From: Michael-Pappas 
Sent: Wednesday, 12 March 2003 1:03 PM
To: Jo Lim
Subject: New Names Advisory Panel

Ms Jo Lim
Chief Policy Officer
.au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA)
107 Faraday Street
CARLTON.  VIC 3053.

In response to the New Names Advisory panel's call for new "PROPOSALS FOR NEW SECOND 
LEVEL DOMAINS' it is in my view that no new 2LD's are needed in the .au space. My 
initial recommendations of .biz.au and info.au have not been canvassed to the full 
extent that the panel require, nor can I see that the other recommendations for 2LD's 
have had this demonstrated. Although it has not been demonstrated by any of the groups 
making the proposals it seems that the .au DNS has a lot of room for improvement in 
the 2LD's that we currently have to work with.

The Panel should be advising that the auDA and registrar's alike concentrate there 
efforts on the existing TLD's that do not have registration numbers that would deem 
these 2LD's viable in the current name space. With overall registrations in proportion 
to the number of business, associations, organisations and individuals in each space 
respectably, are lacking overall. This gap needs to decrease before any more widening 
of the .au name space continues out into the market place.

In addition as a Manager of an Accredited registrar and also a Supply class member I 
have many dealings with registrants and also resellers, the knowledge of domain names 
in general is lacking and until time is given for the new policies and allocation 
rules to settle in, expansion of the space is not needed in current terms of use in 
Australia. I bring to attention the numerous domain names that have been created over 
the vast gTLD and ccTLD's around the world, namely .name, .me.uk, maori.nz and others. 
Although these domain names have been created to represent a portion of the community 
they represent the uptake of these spaces are something to be desired and will continue 
to be until a wider knowledge of the DNS is accomplished.

It is noted that the Panel is considering .info.au be reinstated into the DNS, but only 
until such time as a proposal is submitted/accepted, it would be my simple view that 
this domain name should only be reinstated if it is as an Open 2TLD and falls in line 
with the .com.au and .net.au domain allocation and eligibility policies. Thus this will 
create an opening for existing .info owners in the Australian market and keep some 
consistency when deciding on a domain space to enter into.

Regards,

Michael-Pappas.
Operations & Business Development Manager.
Distribute.IT Pty Ltd.~an auDA accredited Registrar~