8 October 2015 auDA Board Meeting Minutes

Meeting of the .au Domain Administration Board

8 October 2015 – 10.30am

auDA, 114 Cardigan Street, Carlton

Present:  Tony Staley (Chair), Chris Disspain, Erhan Karabardak, George Pongas, Graham McDonald, Joe Manariti, Josh Rowe, Julie Hammer, Kartic Srinivasan, Paul Levins, Simon Johnson, Stuart Benjamin

Observers:  Annaliese Williams (DoC), John Higgins (Nexia Australia), Jo Lim (auDA), Helen Hollins (auDA-Item 4), Jacki O’Sullivan (auDA–Minutes)

Apologies:  Nil

1.    Continuous Disclosure

There were no matters to disclose.

2.    Confirmation of August 2015 Minutes

The minutes of the 17 August 2015 Board meeting were confirmed.

3.    Finance

• The Board noted the September 2015 accounts had not yet been finalised and will be circulated when completed.
• John Higgins summarised the final 2015 Audited Accounts which had been circulated to the Board.  It was noted the final version now included the provision for audit fees and a recalculation of Annual & Long Service leave.  A surplus of $1.672M and Assets of $10.092M were noted for the financial year.

4.    CEO Report

• The CEO report was noted.
• auDA's ISS Compliance has now been completed with the report to be circulated to the Board in due course.
• The Registrar ISS Compliance deadline is end October 2015, with Registrars who complete online to be deemed as completed.  There are currently 3 outstanding Registrars who are yet to complete online with only 1 at risk of being suspended due to not yet having commenced online.
• H Hollins reported on the outcomes of the 2015 ANZIAs.  It was noted that 2015 saw the highest number of applications received to date with the quality of applications of the finalists being outstanding.  Thanks were noted for InternetNZ and H Hollins for their work on the Gala and all Board members for their contributions and attendance at the Gala, especially G McDonald for standing in at the last minute as co-host for the evening.  It was agreed H Hollins would draft a letter for the Chair to sign thanking InternetNZ.  An assessment on the 2015 ANZIA's will be completed and forwarded to the Board in due course.  The suggestion that the 2016 ANZIA's be held in an Australian capital city other than Melbourne will be considered.
• H Hollins reported on the outcome of the 2015 auIGF.  The conference went very well with 295 registered and 245 final attendees.  There were several approaches made regarding partnership opportunities for future events, along with twitter activity, positive feedback, new interest, small start-up businesses attending and some attendees indicating they would now join as auDA members.  Thanks and appreciation was noted for the support by the Board members who attended.  The Chair and Board thanked H Hollins and the auDA team for all their work on the auIGF.  A report on outcomes and suggestions for the 2016 event will now be completed and circulated in due course.

5.    2015 Names Policy Panel

J Lim advised the 2015 Names Policy Panel had not met since the last report, with the next meeting scheduled for 8 October (following the Board Meeting) when outcomes of the consultation will be considered.  It was noted 4,495 survey responses and 30 submissions had been received.  Recommendations will be finalised during November for presentation at the December Board meeting.  The Risk Committee will also meet to perform a risk assessment on the findings and recommendations and will report at the February 2016 meeting.

6.  Board Committee Updates

Finance & Audit Committee:

• The Chair advised the Committee had not met as the September accounts had not yet been finalised.
• The Chair suggested the Board consider investment of further US$.  The Board agreed an additional US$300k would be purchased as soon as possible.

Governance, Board Succession & Remuneration Committee:

• The Chair advised the Committee had not met since the 13 August 2015 meeting and will meet next in December 2015.

Strategic Risk Committee:

• The Chair advised the Committee had last met on 17 August 2015 and minutes had been circulated, approved and published.
• At the August meeting, the Committee finalised the assessment of the impact of the separated Operational and Strategic risk logs and are now comfortable with the final documents.  The Committee will next meet during December-January to consider the findings and assess the risks of the Names Panel proposed recommendations.
• The Committee has begun implementation of secure document distribution via OwnCloud.  It is anticipated rollout for distribution of Board documents via OwnCloud will commence in December 2015 once the new Board is in place.  A session is planned to be run at the December Board meeting for OwnCloud setup and training of Board members.

7.    AusRegistry

• G Pongas gave a summary of the Registrar Executive day held on Monday 5 October.  There were approximately 30 attendees including AusRegistry and auDA staff with the focus being on marketing and growth of the name space.  Outcomes included agreement that a Marketing Sub-committee consisting of Registrars/AusRegistry will be formed to promote the namespace and marketing.
• S Johnson raised a question regarding competition law and the possible perception of a cartel, in relation to the AusRegistry Registrars Executive day and other meetings of registrars. The Board noted that Registrar meetings are common across the industry, price is not discussed and there are no issues with auDA or AusRegistry running these events. 

8.    Membership

The following membership applications were approved in the classes indicated, subject to contact by the CEO.

9.    Board Correspondence

There was no Board Correspondence.

10.  Other Business

• J Lim reminded the Board that the AGM would be held on Monday 30 November 2015 at the Park Hyatt followed by the auDA Christmas function.
• G McDonald gave an update on the auDRP workshop held on Monday 5 October at the Park Hyatt.  He noted there was vibrant discussion and engagement by panellists, and that auDA has committed to work with Andrew Christie to keep the auDRP Overview up-to-date.  It was also suggested that auDA should consider ways of improving lawyers’ awareness of the auDRP and other domain name complaints processes, perhaps through the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program.

11.  Next Meeting

The next Board meeting will be held on Monday 14 December 2015.