Yesterday the auDA Annual General Meeting was held “virtually”. Apparently a recording was made, and will be available on the website soon.

Did anyone watch it? I did – and I know Ian Halson also did.

In fact, the only two questions that were asked were from Ian! Not like the old days. 🙂

What did I get out of it?

  • The new / amended Constitution was approved / rubber stamped by the only people currently allowed to vote (the Governing Members).
  • The good news arising from the amended Constitution is that from September next year (2022), Associate Members will be allowed to vote and have a proper say. However auDA tries to spin it, the last few years have seen members effectively disenfranchised. ✔️
  • I learnt that Vicki Middleton is no longer the Government observer. Lachlann Paterson has taken her place.
  • The CEO (Rosemary Sinclair) made an observation how well the .au ccTLD is doing compared to some worldwide counterparts. In paraphrasing her, she said we can be proud that Australia is “just outside the Top 10” (or words to that effect). Being a bit long in the tooth, I looked up some previous stats which were reported back in 2015 on Domainer. My friend Luke Summers penned this article.
  • The fact is, in Q1 – 2015, Australia was in the Top 10 with over 2.9 million registrations. Without looking it up, from memory Australia was in the TOP 10 for a number of years. Fast forward 6.8 years, and we currently sit at around 3.3 million. A couple of other ccTLDS have pushed us out. See for yourself.

P.S. But fear not! Next year we should be back in the TOP 10 after artificially increasing registrations with the intro of .au. 😲


Excerpt from AusRegistry’s Behind the Dot – State of the .au Domain, Edition 4, August 2015


TOP 10 LARGEST CCTLDs BY NUMBER OF REPORTED DOMAIN NAMES – Source: ZookNIC, Q2 2021


Any thoughts or comments on anything?

Ned O’Meara – 17th November 2021


7 thoughts on “auDA AGM 2021

  • November 17, 2021 at 3:29 pm
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    The number of names registered doesn’t mean much, as pricing variances and other things influence this.

    eg .tk is a rubbish extension

    What matters is dominance within a country. Australia is highest in the world, making it the most bankable extension for business.

    In other words, though .co.uk and .de are used heavily in the UK and Germany respectively, each of these extensions competes with .com more than .au needs to compete with .com.

    This is because the UK and Germany are more integrated with Europe (where there are dozens of other ccTLDs) and so their ccTLDs are diluted in the mix, meaning more registrants opt for .com as a corollary.

    Australia by contrast is an island continent and a discrete market in the commercial psyche. Hence .com.au is the only option when it comes to doing business online in Australia (or .net.au if .com.au is taken).

    While .com (the US extension that has been used globally) does have some usage in Australia, it is less meaningful and less trusted than .com.au and .net.au.

    Multinationals using .com will usually run off .com.au in Australia wherever possible unless there are technical reasons for using one URL globally (in which case it will be .com).

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  • November 17, 2021 at 4:58 pm
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    THOUSANDS of members and only ONE person asked TWO questions?

    That’s not bad, auDA spent millions of dollars on “engagement” to achieve this remarkable result. The auDA Board and CEO should be very proud of this amazing milestone – lets aim for three questions next year.

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  • November 17, 2021 at 5:00 pm
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    I looked at the article mentioned above from 2015 in relation to this year. So, our .au ccTLD was Number 9 in the world in 2015. Now, we’ve gone backwards and we’re out of the Top 10? And this is good?

    The only reason .com.au is seen as strong and valuable, and it’s THE ONLY reason… is because certain Domain Investors reveal how much money our digital assets are worth by REPORTING OUR SALES.

    auDA treat Domain Investors like shit, when the reality is, WE are the only ones promoting the VALUE of Australian domain names TO THE WORLD.

    And auDA continue to put up fence after fence.

    WAKE UP auDA.

    CEOs and Board Members and Complaint Managers of auDA come and go. Domain Investors hold domain name values up year after year.

    What happens if prominent Domain Investors STOP CARING about .com.au ?

    You might want to think about that. Quickly.

  • November 17, 2021 at 8:43 pm
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    Here in the UK, the Nominet board and CEO were given a wakeup this year. If you piss people off for long enough and don’t engage, it never ends well. Simon Blackler led the Public Interest campaign, and he has now been elected as a director.
    https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/17/nominet_board_elections/

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    • November 18, 2021 at 8:21 am
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      Hi Dave! Astute observation as usual.

      I’m going to do a quick story about this. I have communicated with Simon Blackler quite a few times on LinkedIn. What he did was deja vu to the first SGM auDA members had back in 2017.

      His election by such an incredible margin shows the deep seated angst of Nominet members.

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    • November 18, 2021 at 11:21 am
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      This is legendary.

  • November 18, 2021 at 11:24 am
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    Disobedience and questions against auDA and the domain policy rules were the genesis of our Australian domain name place in the world today.

    It is not disobedience or questions for their own sake, which is merely belligerence, but disobedience for the sake of principle, which courses through the blood of every good Australian domain investor and entrepreneur.

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