Since 24 March 2022, it has been possible to register domain names at the second level (e.g., example.au) in the .au ccTLD.  These registrations are referred to as .au direct registrations.

It was always the intention that the .au ccTLD equivalent of the ICANN UDRP, the .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP), would apply to .au direct registrations. To that end, the regulatory authority of the .au ccTLD, .au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA), has recently amended the auDRP to state, in clause 2.1, that it applies to domain name registrations in “all Namespaces”.

As defined in the amended auDRP, “Namespaces” means the following: .au, nt.edu.au, catholic.edu.au, schools.nsw.edu.au, education.tas.edu.au, tas.edu.au, sa.au, wa.au, nt.au, qld.au, nsw.au, vic.au, tas.au and act.au or as varied from time to time by auDA.

While this change confirms that the auDRP applies to .au direct registrations, it does more. In particular, it applies the auDRP to all namespaces in the .au ccTLD, including those that are reserved for educational institutions and for State and Territory governments. Previously the auDRP only applied to registrations in the open 2LDs – i.e., asn.au, com.au, id.au, net.au and org.au.