Many businesses are registering their .au domains as we get closer to the end of the 'Priority Hold' in less than 48hrs.
The Priority Allocation process is designed to give registrants, who hold an existing domain name ending in: .com.au or .net.au (for example), the opportunity to apply for Priority Status. It is important to note that the Priority Allocation hold period ends at 9:59am on Wednesday 21 September 2022.
Let's be clear though there is no need to panic. It is not a strict requirement to have a .au domain and it is perfectly fine to keep using .com.au as a business website address. This short update from Business Victoria summarises it well.
In March 2022, the .au Domain Administration (auDA) introduced second-level .au domains, which allowed anyone with an Australian presence to access website domains such as businessname.au instead of .com.au, .net.au or .org.au.
Anyone with an existing .au website registered before 24 March 2022 was given a 6-month priority hold over its .au direct equivalent. That period will end on Tuesday 20 September.
Registering the .au direct domain is not mandatory. However, after this priority hold period ends, the domain will become available to the public.
If a business had a domain name like bobsbananaboxes.com.au, registered years ago, then they could be eligible for priority application status to get bobsbananaboxes.au. I think it's a good idea to protect a business name or trademark by registering the direct .au so that no one else can register it but that is a decision to be made by each business owner.
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