The .au domain is a critical component of Australia’s communications infrastructure, ensuring internet users can find and access .au websites and email addresses every day.
auDA is entrusted by the Australian Government to operate .au for the benefit of all Australians. As part of our work, we administer the .au Licensing Rules, which are developed and reviewed by the community using multi-stakeholder processes.
“auDA periodically arranges a process for the community to review the Rules to ensure they remain effective over time, reflect community expectations, and function for the benefit of Australians. Engagement with the community is a core part of reviewing the rules so that people can have their say and help shape the future of the .au domain,” said auDA CEO Bruce Tonkin.
In 2025, the auDA Board appointed an external Policy Advisory Panel to lead a Review of the .au Licensing Rules, including extensive multi-stakeholder community consultation to obtain feedback on the Rules and where they may benefit from clarification or improvement.
Community consultation update
The first round of public consultation commenced in September 2025 and included a variety of in-person and virtual events. At all consultations, the Panel asked the community to provide their feedback on key issues related to the .au Licensing Rules (identified via public consultation in preparation for the Review). These key issues include:
- Domain Name Monetisation in the com.au and net.au namespaces and whether this should continue to be permitted
- Contested .au direct domain names (e.g. the registrants of forexample.com.au and forexample.net.au both applying for forexample.au) and whether the current approach to resolving contested names is adequate
- How the allocation rules for which domain names a person with an Australian presence can have for com.au and net.au namespaces are working, and whether they should be stricter or removed entirely.
Participants have also been encouraged to raise other issues related to the Rules so that they may be considered by the Panel.
Consultation activities to date
- Panel engagement - Members of the Panel held an open consultation at the Australian Internet Governance Forum (auIGF) 2025 in Adelaide. The Panel Chair attended auDA’s monthly registrar briefing in September and presented at the auDA Registrar Summit in November. The Panel Chair also attended a domain investor briefing in November and, with Panel members, discussed the review with government and Indigenous stakeholders in Darwin in November.
- In-person workshops - In-person workshops were held in Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne with facilitated conversation amongst community members on key issues in February and March 2026.
- Virtual Town Halls - Four virtual town hall sessions were held from November 2025 to March 2026, providing additional opportunities for the community to have a say.
- Written submissions - The Panel sought feedback via written submissions, which were open to the public from November 2025 to March 2026. All submissions will be published on the Panel’s consultation webpage, unless there is a request for a submission to remain confidential.
Stakeholders who have contributed to the review include members of the public, government, the domain name industry, business, civil society, academia and technical experts.
Feedback received through events and submissions has been collated and will be used by the Panel to inform recommendations to be set out in its Draft Report. Panel Chair Matt Healy said the feedback received so far has been valuable to the Panel’s work:
“The Panel’s review is well underway and it’s clear that interest is high across the community. We’ve had great input across the roundtables and engagements we’ve held as well as via written submissions. We look forward to continuing the engagement process to ensure the rules remain fit for purpose for all Australians”
Panel Chair, Matt Healy
Next steps
With the first round of public consultation complete, the Policy Advisory Panel is preparing a Draft Report setting out its independent recommendations for potential updates to the .au Licensing Rules, based on what they heard from stakeholders.
The Draft Report will be published on the auDA website in the coming months. The Panel will then open a second round of public consultation to seek feedback on its Draft Report.
After this second round of consultation closes, the Panel will review submissions and finalise its recommendations. It will then provide a report with finalised recommendations for potential updates to the .au Licensing Rules to the auDA Board by mid-2026.
auDA will continue to publish updates as the Review progresses. For more information on background, consultation materials and future updates, visit the .au Licensing Rules Review (2025) page on the auDA website.
To receive updates on the .au Licensing Rules and other matters related to .au and auDA, become a .au member today.