auDA to create new geographic 2LDs - state/territory.au

Announcement posted by auDA 15 Nov 2002

The auDA Board has decided to create eight new second level domains (2LDs) for Australian states and territories - act.au, nsw.au, nt.au, qld.au, sa.au, tas.au, vic.au, wa.au - in order to preserve Australian geographic names for use by the relevant community.

"auDA is pleased to adopt a community-based geographic naming system that will help to protect and promote Australian geographic areas and their communities on the Internet," said auDA CEO, Chris Disspain.

The proposed domain structure is placename.state/territory.au - for example, bathurst.nsw.au or ballarat.vic.au. Use of the domain names would be restricted to community website portals that reflect community interests, such as local business, tourism, historical information, special interest groups, and cultural events.

"The creation of the new 2LDs represents a major change to the Australian DNS and there are many operational and policy issues that need to be worked through. We anticipate a 12-18 month implementation period," said Disspain.

The original proposal was submitted by the One City One Site working party, and has been endorsed by the Online Council of Australian Government IT Ministers.

The NSW Government has committed to undertake pilot testing in nsw.au, as the first phase of progressive national implementation.

The decision to create the new 2LDs was made on the recommendation of auDA's New Names Advisory Panel, which is evaluating a number of proposals for new 2LDs in the .au domain. More information is available at http://www.auda.org.au/policy/panel-newname-2002

-ENDS-