For too long our country has been hiding behind .com – well, no more!
From 24 March 2022, you can register for shorter, and much more excellent .au domains. This is great from both a branding and ease-of-use perspective. Not only do we finally have our own domain without needing .com, but shorter URLs are a marketer’s dream, so you can imagine how excited we are about this one (hint: very).
So, what do you need to do? Read on to find out how this change affects you!

What if my website already ends in .au? (example.com.au or example.org.au or example.net.au)

Too easy! Any .au domains that already have their matching .com.au or other .au namespaces registered will be put on Priority Hold until 20 September 2022.
During this 6-month period you can apply for the .au domain for pages you already own through any company that registers the .au extension (like VentraIP). In most cases you can start using the .au address soon after you register for it, and your other domains will continue to operate as normal.

What if two parties apply for the same domain?

In some cases there may be more than one eligible party – for example Joe owns example.net and Sue owns example.org.
Both can apply for the .au domain, but only one can be granted the rights. If you’re in this group, have a look at the Priority Allocation Process to understand how sites will be allocated between applicants.

What if my current website has no .au in it? (example.org, example.com, example.net)

Your matching .au domain name will NOT be placed on Priority Hold if your current domain doesn’t end in .au (like .com.au, .org.au and net.au). If this is you, we recommend you register your website domain for .au on 24 March or as soon as possible after. It’s not just a super-cool thing to finally have yourwebsite.au, it’s essentially a brand protection exercise – if you don’t register, somebody else might.

What are my next steps?

If your website ends in .com.au, .org.au or .net.au you will hear from the registrar of those pages with information on how you can apply for the .au name you hold licences for from March 24.
If your website doesn’t end in any form of .au you will need to register for the .au domain on or after March 24, but you may not hear of an outcome of that application until the Priority Hold period ends on September 20.
For more information, see .au direct launch on the .auDA website.