Australia’s internet is managed through Australian law, policies and global coordination. The provision of .au domain names is increasingly essential to the nation’s economic and social development. These names are supplied by the .au Domain Administration, auDA.

Internet governance, both locally and globally, is facilitated by the multi-stakeholder model. This is the development and application by governments, the private sector, and civil society, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures. This helps shape the evolution and use of the Internet to be fundamentally open, free and secure. The multi-stakeholder model is supported by the Australian Government.

The Department oversees Australia’s liaison with international groups charged with managing the Internet, such as ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which maintains the Domain Name System (DNS), which translates website names into Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, making it easier for users to find what they need on the Internet.

Interactive gambling

The department develops policy and regulations for interactive gambling services that take place on broadcasting, data casting and online platforms.

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Domain names

Australia’s country code Top-Level Domain—the .au domain—is administered by the not-for-profit .au Domain Administration (auDA).

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Classification

The department provides operational and policy advice on the classification of films, computer games and publications.

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Spam

The Australian Government works with other governments and agencies to enforce local anti-spam laws and share information.

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Policies

6 January 2023
Certain types of developments may be exempt from the requirements to install fibre-ready pit and pipe under Part 20A of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
19 October 2020
The ACCC has declared a layer 2-bitstream service. This service is called the local bitstream access service (LBAS). The ACCC declared the LBAS in February 2012, and subsequently made a final access determination for the LBAS declaration.
16 December 2015
Before You Dig is Australia’s free referral service for information on the location of underground infrastructure.
15 November 2013
Illegal and offensive online content is regulated through the Online Content Scheme under Schedule 5 and 7 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 through a complaints-based mechanism.