Australia's .au internet registry chair quits amid no-confidence vote

The chair of Australia's .au internet registry has resigned just days before a vote of no confidence in his leadership. Stuart Benjamin announced on Friday that he had "taken the very difficult decision" to quit because he had "reached the view that there is no possible positive outcome for the organization from the vote …

[john jones 1]

frankly the fact that Australia needs a E.164 (ENUM) mapping yet the vested interests and squabbling prevent it from happening

with all the major telco's moving to IP based routing and communication not having a open and level playing field is hurting +61 and dot Au registry

The gov not controlling the dot AU DNS root signing process means that they cant do interception correctly and rely on commercial organisations who may have other vested interests...

build a fair and open registry with stiff registration requirements...

you cant go back after you allow a free for all...

[Andy Mac]

It never ceases to amaze me that organisations tasked with handing out strings of letters and dots can be such hotbeds of intrigue and mismanagement.

[Yes Me]

...intrigue and mismanagement

It's because of the fact that there's money to be made and that, I'm afraid, attracts people with a weak grasp of ethics. Only a very strong non-profit constituition for the registry that caps salaries and bans profits can prevent this; and as this case shows, transparency is everything (and is therefore hated by those of weak ethics).

[Kevin Johnston]

Deja vu

Now where have I seen behaviour like that before....

Something about a European Patent Office or something lie that?

[Pascal Monett]

Re: Deja vu

For me, as soon as I read that they hire people from ICANN I filed the whole story in my Shoot-Them-Behind-The-Toolshed folder.

[Trollslayer]

Seen this before

UK.

Drone registration.

[eldakka]

Not a positive note

He goes on to insist that the board will continue with its plans to build its own registry and Benjamin points to an "increase in policy generation, in effective oversight, and in good governance" as his legacy.

For an organisation with a pretty simple and straightforward purpose, an "increase in policy generation" is not something to be proud of. It sounds like make-work and self-justification work for the wage levels of the board and executives.

[Christoph]

They should revert to the original TLD

Junk the whole .au setup and revert to the domain that Australia used in the early days of the Internet before all the TLDs were standardised.

.oz

[Notas Badoff]

Good Governance

With so many examples of people doggedly outstripping honesty, can we simply shortcut the description phase and cut straight to saying here's a new 'Mugabe' ?

[Frank Oz]

Executive shenanigans...

Rent seeking suits seek to enrich themselves whilst adding no value, and removing themselves from any scrutiny by those they answer to ...

What really hurts is that in the corporate sector of the Australian economy, such behaviour will be widely admired.

Sign of the times I suppose, but I'm glad this time a light was shone on it.

[David Roberts]

Strange tale

It starts with a new chairman getting stuck into the snouts in the trough and then morphs into the organisation being stealthed.

What brought about the change in direction?

Unkind to consider that it might have been the realisation of just how much money was under the table and up for grabs.

"We've sorted out all the bad practices of the last lot. All new and shiny now! Proof? We'd love to but corporate best practice. Nothing to see here, just move along please."

[robkaay]

We won!

auDA Chair resigns one day ahead of Special General Meeting -

https://www.auda.org.au/news/statement-from-auda-chair-stuart-benjamin/

Mark this moment in Australian domain name history.

Members won't allow Australia's domain name governing body to head in the wrong direction, conceal information and/or ignore our questions.

Well done to all those involved who stood up; particularly Ned, Ian, Scott, Josh, the auDA ex-employees and the proud members and Australian domainer community.

Latest updates appear on Domainer.com.au

[Anonymous Coward]

Great write-up

Kieren - thank you for an excellent article.

Bloody brilliant summary of 18 months of turmoil in only a few hundred words - while also leaving room for erudite commentary.

I recommend that all ccTLD managers "watch this space" for two reasons:

1) Nominet was the first to crumble a decade ago and yet it seems no lessons have been learnt in the interim. If it can happen to .au, it can happen to any of you; and

2) the show has only just begun in this humble penal colony.

[aberglas]

Some background please to make it intelligible

Who are the "Members"?

Who are the shareholders, if this is a company?

What, exactly, does the company own? The right to the .au domain? Says who? What if the members create a new organization?