Paul Twomey IGAC) and Greg Crew (ICANN Board)

[Michael Sondow <msondow@iciiu.org>]

http://www.auda.org/doc/twomey13mar99.html


Letter submitted to NOIE with auDA Constitution

     13 March 1999

     Dr Paul Twomey
     Chief Executive Officer and 
     Special Advisor for the Information Economy and Technology,
     National Office for the Information Economy
     CANBERRA ACT 2600

     Dear Dr Twomey, 

     The au Working Group on Australian Domain Names is pleased to
submit the Constitution for a company to be
     named .au Domain Administration (to be known as auDA). 

     It is expected, that upon approval from NOIE and adoption by
the members of the company, this Constitution will
     form the basis of the new non-profit organisation, auDA, which
will take over the delegation to manage the .au
     namespace from its current holder, Robert Elz, commencing April
1999. 

     To develop this Constitution, the .au Working Group engaged in
extensive public consultation. During this
     process, from December 1998 to March 1999, the Working Group
publicised all its working documents, minutes
     and meetings, etc. Every attempt has been made to seek
contribution and comment from key stakeholders and
     interested members of the industry, and the Australian Internet
community. The .au Working Group
     acknowledges, and is grateful for, the support it has received,
not only from government, but from the industry and
     the community at large. The Constitution is the result of
significant input from the Australian Internet community. 

     In line with a request from NOIE, a formal document outlining
our public consultation process is attached. 

     Two matters have proven difficult to resolve. The Working Group
has adopted a 3 class membership model for
     auDA (supply side, demand side, and representative
associations), but there was a strong minority view that a
     single class of membership would be more appropriate. The
members of the Working Group supporting the
     minority viewpoint expressed dissatisfaction at the manner in
which I, as Chair, resolved the question. 

     The second matter has been left for your comment and we welcome
your guidance. This refers to the question of
     restricting membership of auDA to Australian entities -
Australian registered companies, residents and citizens.
     This is currently dealt with in Section 9.4 of the
Constitution. The Working Group was equally divided on this
     point, and we have not included this requirement in membership
qualifications. We are prepared to do so if
     government expresses a wish for this requirement. 

     The .au Working Group looks forward to your input on the
question of membership qualification, and to a
     favourable response from your office to recognise auDA, with
the attached constitution, as an entity to administer
     the .au domain name space. With your endorsement I am sure the
Australian Internet community will support
     auDA to manage the .au namespace in the best interests of the
Australian community. 

     I commend to you the members of the .au Working Group, whose
names are attached to this letter. Despite busy
     schedules, they have all given a substantial amount of time and
effort to the Working Group, and have represented
     their views, and the views of organisations with which they are
affiliated, honestly, clearly, and ultimately in a spirit
     of compromise to obtain a result within the short time
available to us. It has been a pleasure for me to work with
     them. 

     I also record the valuable assistance of Corrs, Chambers,
Westgarth. Philip Catania and Christopher Murphy
     who have provided pro bono legal advice and drafting assistance
to the Working Group, without which the
     Constitution attached would be unlikely to pass critical
evaluation. 

     If I can be of assistance to clarify any points, please do not
hesitate to contact me. 

     Yours sincerely, 


     Greg Crew
     Chair
     .au Working Group on Australian Domain Names