Important mandatory requirement information

Why must I?

Policies have been developed to facilitate the registration and administration of domain names used by the Australian, state, territory and local government jurisdictions. The gov.au Domain Name Policies apply to third level domains at the Australian Government level (e.g. example.gov.au) and fourth level domains at the state/territory/local government levels (e.g. example.act.gov.au).

Under the gov.au Policy and Governance Framework, each jurisdiction may apply additional domain policies, standards and guidelines in assessing domain applications. The Australian Government Domain Name Policy is applicable to all Australian Government agencies.

What must I do?

Under the Australian Government Domain Name Policy, agencies under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) must utilise a gov.au domain to support their website/s, and not use other non gov.au domain names, unless granted exemption by the Australian Government Chief Information Officer.  Other government bodies, such as those under the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 (CAC Act), may utilise a gov.au domain to support their websites and are encouraged to do so.

How do I?

The Government Domain Names website provides information about the gov.au domain space, and links to gov.au domain registration and management services.

The Domain Name Guidelines provide advice on selecting and managing your domain name. Before applying for a new domain name, you should first consider if your needs can be met using an existing domain name. Use of a sub domain or a sub directory of an existing agency or topic domain may present an opportunity to promote an existing subject matter web site and provide additional context to the new website.

Note that sub directories and sub domains do not need to be registered and can be set up by your Service Provider and do not preclude use of alternate ‘look and feel’ or functionality.

Registering a separate domain name may be preferable if:

• The proposed website involves particularly high profile information or services;
• A separate domain name will make it significantly easier for users to find your information or service;
• Your information or service needs to be presented independently of a parent agency or topic.

Subjects:

• domain
• name
• administration
• registration