.au

Overview

.au is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia. Created on 5 March 1986, its policy is managed by .au Domain Administration (auDA). The .au space supports registrations under established second-level namespaces (e.g., .com.au, .org.au) and, since 24 March 2022, direct second-level registrations (".au Direct"). The technical registry has been operated by different providers (AusRegistry historically; Afilias was awarded the registry contract in December 2017 and operated the registry as of July 2018).

History

• Delegation and early operation:
  • The .au ccTLD was delegated in 1986 by Jon Postel to Kevin Robert Elz (University of Melbourne).
• Formation of auDA and governance:
  • The industry established .au Domain Administration (auDA) in the late 1990s; ICANN granted assent in 2001.
  • A new competitive registration regime began on 1 July 2002, requiring registrations via accredited registrars.
• Registry operations:
  • AusRegistry performed the registry role after the 2002 tender. Afilias won the registry tender in December 2017 and took over registry operations thereafter.
• Recent milestone:
  • Direct second-level registrations ("yourname.au") were introduced to the public on 24 March 2022 following priority (sunrise) and general availability phases.

Usage and Audience

• Typical users:
  • Australian businesses, organisations, government bodies, educational institutions and individuals with an Australian presence.
• Common second-level namespaces and intended audiences:
  • .com.au / .net.au — commercial entities and historically ISPs (.net.au use broadened)
  • .org.au — charities and non-profit organisations
  • .edu.au — educational institutions (often delegated by state for schools)
  • .gov.au — federal, state and territory government agencies
  • .asn.au — incorporated associations
  • .id.au — individuals (real name or common alias)
  • .csiro.au — Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (closed namespace)
• State and territory (community geographic) namespaces:
  • Localities use second-level state/Territory abbreviations (e.g., .vic.au, .nt.au) for community-focused domains; holders must be legally-registered not-for-profit entities representative of the local community.
• .au Direct:
  • Marketed as shorter, simpler names and intended to complement existing namespaces.
  • A priority implementation policy allowed existing holders of matching 3LD names to apply during sunrise periods (Category 1, Category 2, General Availability).

Registration Rules

• Policy and oversight:
  • auDA is the policy developer and manager of the .au namespace; the registry provides technical/wholesale services while registrars supply retail registration services.
  • auDA publishes formal policies (for example, the 2021 ".au Domain Administration Rules: Licensing").
• Australian presence requirement (Licensing Rules 2021):
  • Registrants must demonstrate an Australian presence. Examples include:
    • Australian citizen or permanent resident
    • Company incorporated in Australia or foreign company licensed to trade in Australia
    • Entity with an Australian Business Number (ABN) or other recognised Australian registration types (ARBN, incorporated association, registered charity, registered political party, etc.)
    • Holder or applicant of an Australian trade mark (limited to exact-match domain registrations)
• Name-eligibility constraints (high level):
  • For most namespaces a domain must be an exact match, abbreviation or acronym of the registrant's name or trade mark, or have a close and substantial connection to the registrant.
  • Sublicensing of a domain is prohibited unless to a related Australian body corporate.
  • Domain name monetisation (acquiring licences to sell/lease/warehouse for revenue) is prohibited in .org.au, .asn.au, .id.au, .edu.au and State/Territory geographic namespaces.
• Syntax and character rules:
  • Minimum two characters; allowed characters are letters (a–z), digits (0–9) and hyphens (-).
  • Domain labels must start and end with a letter or number (not a hyphen).
  • Hyphens are not permitted in the third and fourth positions of a name (e.g., ab--cd.com.au disallowed).
  • Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) are supported for certain scripts (Chinese - Simplified, Korean, Japanese, Arabic, Vietnamese) and the two-character minimum rule still applies.
• Reserved names and prohibitions:
  • auDA may reserve names for security, administrative or governmental reasons; some names (state/territory names, restricted words) are unavailable unless authorised.
• Dispute resolution:
  • Domain disputes are handled under the .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP), adapted from the UDRP, adopted in 2016; remedies include cancellation or transfer subject to eligibility.

SEO and Brand Impact

• Policy-rich model and trust:
  • The .au namespace follows strict eligibility and licensing rules which the sources describe as "policy rich". This conservative approach has been credited with reducing cybersquatting and fraudulent use compared with more permissive gTLDs, contributing to trustworthiness and brand protection for Australian entities.
• Shorter .au Direct names:
  • The availability of direct second-level names (yourname.au) offers shorter, brand-friendly domains which can be useful for marketing and memorability while still subject to Australian presence and eligibility rules.

Notable Cases or Examples

• Political/branding dispute:
  • In 2022 the Liberal Party redirected Albanese.com.au (the surname of the Labor leader Anthony Albanese) to its homepage; auDA has a history of suspending or cancelling registrations that breach policy or draw public concern.
• Secondary-market example:
  • A reported record sale in the .au aftermarket: investmentproperty.com.au sold for AUD 125,500 (reported as a milestone in .au aftermarket activity).
• Statistics and scale:
  • Registered domains (infobox figure): 4,138,919 (data reported 10 December 2022).
  • Annual-report figures: total domains under management 3,603,924 for the 2021–22 financial year (auDA reporting).

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       AU

organisation: .au Domain Administration (auDA)
address:      Level 19
address:      8 Exhibition Street
address:      Melbourne VIC 3000
address:      Australia

contact:      administrative
name:         Chief Operating Officer
organisation: .au Domain Administration (auDA)
address:      Level 19
address:      8 Exhibition Street
address:      Melbourne VIC 3000
address:      Australia
phone:        + 61 03 8341 4111
fax-no:       + 61 03 8341 4112
e-mail:       coo@auda.org.au

contact:      technical
name:         Chief Technical Officer
organisation: .au Domain Administration (auDA)
address:      Level 19
address:      8 Exhibition Street
address:      Melbourne VIC 3000
address:      Australia
phone:        +61 (0)3 8341 4111
fax-no:       +61 (0)3 8341 4112
e-mail:       auda.iana@auda.org.au

nserver:      A.AU 2407:6e00:254:0:0:0:0:1 58.65.254.1
nserver:      Q.AU 2a01:8840:be:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.196.1
nserver:      R.AU 2a01:8840:bf:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.197.1
nserver:      S.AU 2a01:8840:c0:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.198.1
nserver:      T.AU 2a01:8840:c1:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.199.1
ds-rdata:     1775 8 2 64dfdddd2c68aa5cc67e58cd88f1fbd7804f911aa3d3314cb59539763a0af89f
ds-rdata:     32902 8 2 e80a9f8eca018ade79925da724a0cb0dbcf03c9a7049d20c9fb74b716ab7d329

whois:        whois.auda.org.au

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information:
remarks:      https://www.auda.org.au/domains/au-domains/

created:      1986-03-05
changed:      2025-08-07
source:       IANA