.au

Australia's new
Domain name

Secure your new .au domain name to show you’re a local!

New .au domain names will be available in Australia from 24 March 2022. From this date, individuals, businesses and organisations with an Australian presence will be able to register a name of their choosing directly before the .au namespace (e.g. yournamehere.au). 

.au will be available in Australia from 24 March 2022.

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Secure .au now!

.au is an all-new direct domain name extension for the Australian domain namespace. It will allow any business, organisation or individual with a connection to Australia the ability to register a .au direct domain name, like Mywebsite.au.

More memorable

Unlike the existing namespaces, .au domain names do not have to match the name of an individual, business or organisation, or alternatively identify the goods or services provided. The .au namespace will allow shorter, potentially more memorable domain names to be registered.

Easy to use

.au domains end a web address with just three characters, making it the easiest Australian domain name to use. Not only does .au provide a more effortless experience when typing in the address bar, but displaying a .au domain looks short and sharp in all mediums, from business cards to bus advertisements.

More Aussie

Shortening a name that’s already short is a common practice in Australia. So taking the .com out seems like a very Australian thing to do. Direct .au takes away the globally used extensions of .com, .net, .org, .asn, and leaves us with just .au. It’s a short, simple, all-Australian domain extension that couldn’t be more Aussie if it tried

Switch to .au!

When .au direct names launch in March 2022, registrants with existing .au domain names (ending in com.au, net.au, org.au, asn.au) will have the chance to apply for Priority Status. This status will allow existing .au domain holders to register the exact match of their domain name with .au. The Priority Status application period will run for six months to ensure .au holders have enough time to register their direct au domain.

Frequently Asked Questions

.au direct is an exciting innovation for Australia’s Internet domain that will complement the existing range of Australian domains. .au direct will deliver a wider choice of available names in the Australian domains, allowing users to register shorter, more memorable online names and provide names that are easier to type and display on mobile devices.

Anyone with a local connection to Australia, including businesses, associations and individuals, can register a .au direct name through an auDA accredited registrar.

Unlike existing Australian namespaces such as com.au and org.au, which have specific allocation criteria, no allocation criteria determine which names an eligible person can register in the .au direct namespace.

If you have an Australian presence, you can simply register a name of your choosing through an auDA accredited registrar, subject to auDA’s licensing rules and the Priority Allocation Process. The name will not need to match your name or be the name of an existing service, good, event, activity or premises that you provide.

No. Your existing name in the .au domain will continue to operate as it does today, provided you keep your registration up-to-date.

Existing holders of a .au domain name licence will have the first opportunity to apply for Priority Status to register the exact match of their current domain name at the .au direct level.

Under the Process, exact matches of all names in the Australian registry before launch will be reserved for .au direct during the six-month Priority Allocation period. During this period, eligible registrants may apply for Priority Status through an accredited auDA registrar.

For more information, visit auDA’s Priority Allocation Process page.

The six-month Priority Allocation period starts on the .au direct launch date, 24 March 2022.

In a small fraction of cases, more than one registrant may be eligible to apply for Priority Status for the same .au direct name (e.g. where Registrant A holds getyour.com.au and Registrant B holds getyour.org.au).

In those cases, the creation date of each applicant’s domain name licence will determine how a name is allocated according to a priority category.

More information on priority categories and examples to help explain how Priority Allocation works can be found on auDA’s Priority Allocation Process page.

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