In 2001 I registered norris.org.au so that my family would have their own Australian domain for community projects.
Over the past twenty years I have contributed to, and developed, a wide range of community projects. Some of these are listed above, and some are hosted here on norris.org.au.
In 2023 the Australian Domain Name registrar (auDA) advised me that I am now ineligible to hold the norris.org.au domain. If you read their page about who can hold a .org.au domain it seems that not a single person on the panel is a member of a family, as these groups have been completely excluded from consideration. Indeed, I would ask, in 2001 what TLD should an Australian family register under? What TLD should they register under in 2023?
While I have launched a formal complaint against auDA regarding the seizure of this domain, it is unlikely to succeed due to the authoritarian heavy handedness so common amongst Australian government, companies, and "authorities" (unclear what auDA even are).
Since I am unlikely to be able to hold onto norris.org.au I am hereby establishing alternative registration under the much more reasonable .org TLD, and will use norrisau.org for future community projects. I would advise anyone considering *any* .au address to simply reconsider, and go with a plain TLD (e.g. .com, .net, .org, ...) instead.
Ashley Norris (ashley@norrisau.org)