You have ONE DAY to lodge your auDA Response and we’ve made a TEMPLATE for you. Act now!

If you hold ‘.com.au’, ‘.net.au’, or ‘.au’ domains for resale, parking, or pay-per-click (PPC) revenue, 10 July 2026 is your deadline to speak up.

auDA’s Policy Advisory Panel is consulting on its Draft Report for the 2025–2026 Licensing Rules Review. Submissions close then. Email: rulesreview25@auda.org.au

Read the fine print, not just the headline.

Recommendation 1 sounds reassuring: keep domain monetisation in commercial namespaces.

But …

Recommendation 2 asks stakeholders to choose between three options — and none of them protect domain investors.

The three options:

More compliance checks on current rules
Tighter “Services” definitions and extra rules for monetised sites
Delete Rule 2.4.4(2)(f) — the flexible allocation pathway used by parked, PPC, referral, and for-sale lander pages

Option 3 is the nuclear option. Without 2.4.4(2)(f), generic and descriptive names that don’t match your company name lose their legal footing. Bulk portfolio holding becomes much harder. Drop catching, aftermarket trading, and registrar parking programs all take a hit.

auDA’s own data shows 500,000 domains are held by registrants with 50+ names — about 17% of the namespace. Industry estimates put PPC-monetised names at 500,000+. CEO Bruce Tonkin has noted that 43% of .com.au and 59% of .au names have no active website content — much of that is legitimate holding, not abandonment.

This is not fringe activity

PPC advertising sits in WIPO Nice Class 35 (advertising services). Major auDA-accredited registrars — GoDaddy, Crazy Domains, Above.com (that run the monopoly ‘Drop.com.au’ Australian premium domain drop catcher auction platform) and others — have promoted domain monetisation for years. Investors have built portfolios under rules that treated this as normal commercial use for 25+ years.

Restricting allocation now would:

Cut registration and renewal revenue for auDA and the registry
Shrink registrar income from parking, aftermarket, and related services
Reduce liquidity and devalue generic .com.au and .au assets
Push registrants toward less restrictive TLDs

The 2019 policy review floated similar restrictions. The Internet Commerce Association pushed back; the worst ideas were dropped. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s current submission favours a lighter touch — trust comes from Australian presence, not micromanaging what words sit in a domain name.

Scammers won’t be stopped by this

Tightening allocation rules does not stop fraud. Scammers who profit from scams can afford to register matching business names. These changes target legitimate investors, not criminals.

What to do before 10 July

Submit written feedback to rulesreview25@auda.org.au
Oppose deletion or narrowing of Rule 2.4.4(2)(f)
Support keeping monetisation without new allocation barriers
Ask for evidence-based policy that targets DNS abuse, not ordinary commercial holding

Domain investing helped build the .au namespace. Policy that quietly removes the rules investors relied on is not a technical tweak — it is a reversal of 25 years of accepted practice.

The consultation closes 10 July 2026. If you hold domains as assets, now is the time to act.

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Further reading: auDA Licensing Rules Review Draft Report consultation (https://www.auda.org.au/consultations/consultation-on-au-licensing-rules-review-draft-report/) | Why auDA’s 2026 Rules Review Matters (https://assets.com.au/auda-2026-rules-review/)

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Template submission for domain investors

Copy, personalise the bracketed sections, and email to rulesreview25@auda.org.au before close of business on 10 July 2026.

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Subject: Submission — .au Licensing Rules Review Draft Report (Phase 2) — [Your Name / Business Name]

To: rulesreview25@auda.org.au

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Dear Policy Advisory Panel,

I am writing to provide feedback on the Draft Report for the 2025–2026 .au Licensing Rules Review.

About me:
I am an Australian domain registrant and investor. I hold [NUMBER] .com.au / .net.au / .au domain names, acquired and renewed under rules that have permitted legitimate monetisation, resale, and holding for future use for more than 25 years.

My position:

I support Recommendation 1 — domain monetisation should remain permitted in com.au, net.au, and .au direct.

I strongly oppose the allocation reform options in Recommendation 2, particularly:

Option 3 — deletion of Rule 2.4.4(2)(f)
Option 2 — narrowing the “Services” definition or adding administrative burdens on monetised sites
Option 1 — increased compliance checks that treat ordinary portfolio holding and PPC monetisation as suspect

Rule 2.4.4(2)(f) is the practical pathway that allows Australian businesses to hold descriptive, generic, and keyword domains for services they provide — including advertising and domain-related commercial activity recognised under WIPO Nice Class 35. Removing or restricting it would make hundreds of thousands of existing holdings non-compliant and would devastate the legitimate aftermarket, parking, and drop-catching ecosystem that registrars, brokers, and investors have operated within for decades.

Why this matters:

auDA’s own data shows [582,895 / a large share of] domains are held by registrants with 50+ names
Monetised and minimally developed domains are a long-standing, registrar-supported part of .au commerce
Restricting allocation does not stop scammers — it penalises legitimate Australian businesses and investors
Reduced liquidity and compliance uncertainty will lower domain values, renewal rates, and namespace growth

What I ask the Panel to recommend:

Retain Rule 2.4.4(2)(f) in full — do not delete or narrow it
Do not introduce new allocation barriers aimed at monetised or portfolio-held domains
Keep eligibility focused on Australian presence and good standing, with exact-match protection for trade mark holders
Address genuine DNS abuse through targeted enforcement — not broad restrictions on domain investing

Domain investors have contributed to .au growth, liquidity, and renewal revenue for decades. Policy changes that retrospectively undermine that activity are disproportionate, economically harmful, and inconsistent with the flexibility that built the namespace.

Thank you for considering this submission. I am happy for it to be published unless marked confidential below.

Name: [Full Name]
Business/Entity: [If applicable]
ABN/ACN: [If applicable]
Email: [Your email]
Portfolio size: [Approximate number of domains]
Publish submission: [Yes / No — request confidential treatment]

Yours sincerely,
[Your Name]

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Tips for investors using the template:

Add 1–2 sentences about your own portfolio (years held, renewals paid, revenue from PPC/resale)
If you use a registrar parking or monetisation service, name it
Keep it factual and professional — submissions may be published on the auDA website