Board Minutes - 10 October 2012

Public Version
Meeting of the .au Domain Administration Board

DD Month 2012 - 00.00am
.au Domain Administration Limited. 114 Cardigan Street. Carlton VIC 3053

Present:
Kim Heitman (Chair), Julie Hammer, Josh Rowe, Marty Drill, Cheryl Langdon-Orr, George Pongas, Kartic Srinivasan, Paul Levins, Chris Disspain, Dwayne Varey

Observers:
Keith Besgrove (DBCDE), John Higgins (NexiaASR), Jo Lim (auDA), Jacki O’Sullivan (auDA–Minutes)

Apologies:
Tony Staley, Graham McDonald

1. Continuous Disclosure
   Cheryl Langdon-Orr advised she has been appointed to the ICANN 2013 Nominating Committee (NomCom) as Chair-Elect for 12 months, then Chair for the following 12 months.
2. Confirmation of August 2012 Minutes
   The minutes of the 20 August 2012 Board meeting were confirmed.
3. Policy Development
   2012 Industry Advisory Panel:
   Jo Lim, on behalf of Craig Ng - Chair of the 2012 Industry Advisory Panel, presented a summary of the Panel’s draft recommendations as follows:
   • auDA to renegotiate with AusRegistry for the 2LD registry operation, with provision for a tender process if negotiations fail. The following registry appointment will be subject to a tender process.
   • Overseas registrars will be required to finance a site visit by auDA during provisional accreditation.
   • Adopt the Information Security Standard (ISS) as mandatory for accredited registrars.
   • Commence listing resellers on the WHOIS database.
   • Allowing bulk transfers in future for registrar acquisitions and for resellers listed on WHOIS.
   • Recommendation for auDA to take control and manage the Code of Practice going forward.
   • It was noted the draft recommendations are still in the public comment period with the closing date for submissions being 19 October 2012.
   • The panel will meet in late October to review and finalise the recommendations for submission to the auDA Board.
4. Finance Report
   • The Board noted the September 2012 accounts.
   • It was noted the income from domain name fees was under budget for the YTD due to a slowing domain name growth rate. Some possible contributing factors were suggested, for example a possible decline in the number of ABN registrations. AusRegistry are monitoring and conducting research on the issue and will advise the Board of their findings in due course.
5. CEO Report
   • The CEO report was noted.
   • Jo Lim gave a summary of the proposed auDA website redevelopment to date noting that proposals from web design companies were still being evaluated and the estimated launch date of the new website is first half of 2013. It was agreed the final approved web design company would be called to do a presentation on the redevelopment at the December auDA Board meeting.
   • The Accountability and Transparency Framework document was circulated for information. The Board was advised the Governance Committee will review the document and make recommendations at the December Board meeting. The Board thanked DBCDE for their feedback on the A&TF.
   • Keith Besgrove, DBCDE, noted his thanks to auDA for their response received to date on the draft ccTLD protocols document and noted DBCDE would like to discuss the issues further with auDA. The Chair thanked DBCDE for their communications with auDA on the matter.
   • It was noted the recent ASIC database changes have caused issues with registrars’ domain name registration processes (ie. in terms of validating ACN and RBN data). It was agreed that auDA should raise the issue with ASIC and attempt to find a solution.
6. Membership
   The following membership applications were approved in the classes indicated:
   
   

   Name of Applicant	Class
   Blake Media Group Pty Ltd	Demand
   Internet Society Of Australia	Demand

   
   
   
7.  Board Committee Updates
   Finance & Audit Committee:
   • The Committee meeting minutes of 3 October 2012 were approved for publication.
   
   Governance, Board Succession & Remuneration Committee:
   • The Committee meeting minutes of 20 August and 2 October 2012 were approved for publication.
   
   Strategic Risk Committee:
   • The Committee Chair gave a summary of activities to date and advised work is continuing on the Risk Assessment with actions being compiled into an Action Plan. The committee will meet in the near future to review and assess the final documents before submission to the Board.
8. Board Correspondence
   • There was no Board Correspondence.
9. Other Business
   • George Pongas gave a summary of the AusRegistry Registrars Conference held at the Gold Coast in September 2012. He noted there was good level of industry engagement and attendance and thanked auDA for its sponsorship and support of the event.
   • The Board was reminded the auDA 2012 AGM would be held in Sydney on 12 November 2012. 4 Supply class nominations and 3 Demand class nominations have been received for Director elections to the auDA Board. The Board confirmed Kim Heitman will Chair the 2012 AGM inTony Staley’s absence and Julie Hammer was noted as a formal apology.
   • The Board acknowledged Kim Heitman and Marty Drill would not stand for re-election at the 2012 AGM and this would be their last Board meeting. Motion: The Board thanked Marty Drill and Kim Heitman in particular for his 13 years of outstanding service as a founding director of auDA. Carried by acclamation.
   • It was noted the positions of Chair and Deputy Chair would require election and the auDA Board Committees would need to be reconstituted at the December 2012 meeting. The CEO asked all Board members to consider standing for the positions and Committees.
   • The Board was reminded of the ANZIA gala event to be held at Old Parliament House on 10 October 2012 and the auIGF to be held at Hotel Realm on 11-12 October 2012.
10. Next Meeting
    The next Board meeting will be held on Monday 10 December 2012 at 2.00pm in Melbourne, followed by the auDA Christmas party. A board induction session will be held on Tuesday 11 December at 10.00am-2.00pm.