Board Minutes - 19 April 2010

Public Version
Meeting of the .au Domain Administration Board

19 April 2010 - 11.00am
Maddocks. Level 7, 140 William Street. Melbourne VIC 3000

Present:
Tony Staley (Chair), Kim Heitman, Chris Disspain, Julie Hammer, Graham McDonald, Dwayne Varey, Amin Kroll, Josh Rowe, Marty Drill, Cheryl Langdon-Orr, George Pongas and Rosemary Sinclair

Observers:
John Higgins (Hayes Knight), Peter Nettlefold (DBCDE), Tristan Kathage (DBCDE) Jo Lim (auDA), Jacki O’Sullivan (auDA-Minutes) and Derek Whitehead (items 1-2)

Apologies:
Nil

1.  Continuous Disclosure

C Langdon-Orr advised that she has been appointed to ICANN’s accountability and transparency review team.

 

2.  Policy Development

New 2LDs Advisory Panel:

· Derek Whitehead, chair of the New 2LD’s Advisory Panel, attended and provided a progress report. The Panel released a discussion paper for public comment on 16 April. The consultation will be advertised nationally and distributed to stakeholders through various means. An online survey form has setup to facilitate responses. The closing date for comments is 23 May.

 

3.  Confirmation of 14 December 2009 and 1 March 2010 Minutes

· Additional changes to the 14 December 2009 and 1 March 2010 meeting minutes were proposed by DBCDE in an email dated 23 March 2010 and responded to by the CEO in an email dated 15 April 2010.

· DBCDE acknowledged that the board’s view is that the minutes of 14 December 2009 stand as per board acceptance.

· The proposed changes to the 1 March 2010 minutes were discussed and the board agreed to make the following amendment:

  o Brenton Thomas advised the board that he denied comments attributed to him in the ZDNet article, and that DBCDE continues to monitor domain name issues as part of its regular policy oversight role.

 

4.  Finance Report

· The board noted the March 2010 accounts.

· The CEO advised that the 2010/11 financial year budget would be circulated shortly to the board for approval via the email list or a teleconference if required.

 

5.  CEO Report

· The CEO report was noted.

Complaints:

· J Lim gave a summary of the complaints information now included in the CEO report.  It was highlighted that this information is a work in progress and will be refined in future.

· It was suggested by the board to include in future information numbers of complaints that progress to 2nd and 3rd tier levels and a graph or visual element.

Best Practice Awards:

· J Hammer clarified to the board that winners had not yet been finalized for the Best Practice awards and that the judging process is still being conducted.

· J Hammer also requested that the judges for 2009 be involved in discussions to develop a possible streamlined judging process for future years, which may include preliminary assessment of the awards by auDA staff.

· It was highlighted that the suggestion of extending the awards to Pacific Nations beyond Australia & NZ may not be in the best interests of the awards.  This was agreed and the CEO will pass the comments onto auDA staff.

New Registrar Agreement:

· The board was advised that a draft new Registrar Agreement is currently being finalised prior to consultation with registrars. The board asked for clarification of the incentives for registrars to sign to the new agreement.  J Lim summarized that whilst the new agreement is not mandatory for registrars to sign, the main incentive under the new agreement is for registrars to have access to a review panel mechanism which was specifically requested by registrars.

ICANN

· ICANN Papers on a number of issues were circulated and reviewed and a summary given by the CEO.  DBCDE advised they have also spoken with other governments regarding some of these issues and are happy to pass on to the board any responses received.

· C Langdon-Orr suggested the recent briefing call should also be circulated to board members.  This was agreed and will be circulated by the CEO.

 

6.  Membership Applications

There were no membership applications for approval.

 

7.  Board Correspondence

There was no board correspondence.

 

8.  Other Business

New Full Names Panel:

· DBCDE asked when the Panel will commence. J Lim advised that draft Terms of Reference will be provided to the board for approval at the June meeting.  

 

9.  Next Meeting

The next board meeting will be held on Thursday 10 June 2010 in Melbourne.