Blue Wren
Top Contributor
**Easy points — Australian domain news (late Aug / early Sep 2026)**
- **.au wholesale price up 1 Oct 2026**
$8.64 → $9.50 ex GST (~$10.45 inc GST) for register, renew, change of registrant, and .au direct.
- **Renew early to beat the rise**
Last cheap day: **30 Sep 2026**. Names expiring up to ~**28 Dec 2026** can be renewed now. Multi-year renewals lock the old rate.
- **New registrar scorecard from 1 Oct**
auDA’s **QPI** (Quality Performance Index) starts for .au registrars. About registrar quality, not your eligibility.
- **ABN check before renewal is real now**
In the **90 days before expiry**, inactive or mismatched ABN/ACN can stop a .au from renewing. Check portfolio ABNs.
- **90-day rule unchanged**
Still can’t renew more than 90 days out. That’s why the Oct price rise hits names in that window.
- **Rules review still pending**
Licensing Rules Review (allocation, monetisation/parking, 90-day window) had draft consult to 10 Jul. Final report to the auDA Board — no public decision yet. This is the one that could change investor .au use.
- **Grants open**
auDA Community Grants 2026: **$750k**, applications opened 31 Jul.
- **auIGF soon**
22–23 Sep 2026, Canberra + online. Theme: resilient internet.
- **WHOIS leak was June**
Small number of IDs/addresses briefly public. Already pulled. Still worth checking old registrant fields.
- **New gTLDs (global, not .au)**
ICANN window closed 12 Aug. 1,600+ applications. Reveal Day ~October. Doesn’t change .au rules.
**Do this week if you hold .au names:** pick keepers → renew before 1 Oct → confirm ABNs → wait on the rules-review outcome before dropping parked names.
- **.au wholesale price up 1 Oct 2026**
$8.64 → $9.50 ex GST (~$10.45 inc GST) for register, renew, change of registrant, and .au direct.
- **Renew early to beat the rise**
Last cheap day: **30 Sep 2026**. Names expiring up to ~**28 Dec 2026** can be renewed now. Multi-year renewals lock the old rate.
- **New registrar scorecard from 1 Oct**
auDA’s **QPI** (Quality Performance Index) starts for .au registrars. About registrar quality, not your eligibility.
- **ABN check before renewal is real now**
In the **90 days before expiry**, inactive or mismatched ABN/ACN can stop a .au from renewing. Check portfolio ABNs.
- **90-day rule unchanged**
Still can’t renew more than 90 days out. That’s why the Oct price rise hits names in that window.
- **Rules review still pending**
Licensing Rules Review (allocation, monetisation/parking, 90-day window) had draft consult to 10 Jul. Final report to the auDA Board — no public decision yet. This is the one that could change investor .au use.
- **Grants open**
auDA Community Grants 2026: **$750k**, applications opened 31 Jul.
- **auIGF soon**
22–23 Sep 2026, Canberra + online. Theme: resilient internet.
- **WHOIS leak was June**
Small number of IDs/addresses briefly public. Already pulled. Still worth checking old registrant fields.
- **New gTLDs (global, not .au)**
ICANN window closed 12 Aug. 1,600+ applications. Reveal Day ~October. Doesn’t change .au rules.
**Do this week if you hold .au names:** pick keepers → renew before 1 Oct → confirm ABNs → wait on the rules-review outcome before dropping parked names.
