The news is a few weeks old now, but I’ve just seen that the .au Domain Administration (.auDA) have decided to allow direct registrations of .au domain names.  That is, there wont be a requirement to use .com.au or .net.au, soon you will be able to register an internet domain name like yourname.au.

Currently only Australian ABN holders can register .com.au and .net.au, only non profits can register .org.au and only individuals can register .id.au (like I’ve done for this personal website you’re reading now).  Hopefully there will be similar restrictions applied to direct .au names, so that only Australian entities or individuals can register.

When direct .au registrations initially become available, I’d like to see a “landrush” period where only existing registrants who already have a domain ending with .com.au, .net.au, .org.au or .id.au get first crack at the equivalent direct .au.  That way organisations like ANZ bank, who already own anz.com.au will be able to register anz.au without worrying about scammers securing the name first.

I personally already own simonyeo.id.au and sy.id.au, so hopefully I’d get the opportunity to register simonyeo.au and sy.au (the later 4 letter domain would be great as a personal link shortener) before anyone else.  If the price is reasonable, that’s exactly what I will do, and simply redirect those to the existing site.

Once any landrush period is complete, you can expect the Aussie internet space to evolve to shorter domains, that still represent truly Australian based web content.

Read the .auDA release here – www.auda.org.au/news/auda-to-introduce-direct-registrations-in-au