There are many out there that don’t realise that there was a fifth member of the auDA 2015 Names Panel that objected to the final report presented to the auDA Board. Members that attended last year’s AGM were reminded of this by Holly Raiche who was a fellow panel member of mine (representing the Australian Communications and Consumer Action Network – ACCAN).
Holly (on behalf of ACCAN) was not a signatory to the Minority Report – however, ACCAN wrote to auDA separately. I may be wrong, but I don’t think auDA ever publicised this at the time. 🙁
ACCAN also issued a press release back then which voiced their concerns regarding direct registration.
PDF: ACCAN voices concern over proposed changes to domain name system
Ned O’Meara – 19th October 2017
Disclaimer
Ummm. There is no .com in the UK.
I believe there is very little public support for .au among the general public. So far I have only found one positive comment about the proposal after AUDA did outreach on forums and media in the last two weeks to try and get panel submissions. That comment was from VentraIP. Every other comment has been negative on it.
The everyday person does not want this. They consider it a cash grab and a double tax on their business.
AUDA needs to do genuine unbiased research and they also need to release the Deloitte Report. I’m betting they will continue to withhold this from members and the general public until submissions have closed.
This highlights how a lot of the feedback provided was perhaps not fully taken into account.
Why was Holly (on behalf of ACCAN) was not also signatory to the Minority Report? This would seem to be a major mistake seeing that they sent out a Media Release. Perhap’s they thought the Media Release may cover it..
Let’s hope ACCAN are vocal now and they send out some more media releases to refresh all of the stakeholders memories.
auDA, auDA Board, 2017 auDA Board candidates, Minister Fifield ( and advisors) , Deloitte, Ausregistry, Melbourne IT, auDA Panels and Committees etc take note of ACCAN and re read their input and concerns. Do not ignore ACCAN or who they represent.
http://accan.org.au/about
“About ACCAN
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is Australia’s peak communications consumer organisation representing individuals, small businesses and not-for-profit groups as consumers of communications products and services.
ACCAN focuses on goods and services encompassed by the converged areas of telecommunications, broadcasting, the internet and online services, including both current and emerging technologies.
We aim to empower consumers to make good choices about products and services. As a peak body, ACCAN will represent the views of its broad and diverse membership base to policy makers, government and industry to get a better outcome for all communications consumers. Member groups include community legal centres, disability advocates, indigenous organisations, financial counsellors, regional organisations, farmers’ federations, parents groups, seniors organisations and other individual members.
The operation of ACCAN is made possible by funding provided by the Commonwealth of Australia under section 593 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. This funding is recovered from charges on telecommunications carriers.
ACCAN administers a Grant Scheme as part of its funding agreement with the Commonwealth Department of Communications. The aims of the Scheme are to support consumer research and representation that is aligned with ACCAN’s strategic plan.”
http://accan.org.au/
http://accan.org.au/about/contact