The Australian Government advocates for an open, free, secure and interoperable Internet, supported by a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance. Multi-stakeholder Internet governance refers to the development and application by governments, the private sector, the technical community, academia and civil society, of shared principles, norms, rules and decision-making procedures.

Australia's Internet is managed through Australian law, policies and global coordination. The provision of .au domain names is essential to the nation's economic and social development. These names are administered by the .au Domain Administration, auDA.

The department oversees Australia's liaison with international groups charged with managing the Internet, such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which coordinates global policy for the Domain Name System (DNS) and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The DNS translates website names into IP addresses, making it easier for users to find what they need on the Internet.

Interactive gambling

The department develops policy and regulations for interactive gambling services that take place on broadcasting, data casting and online platforms.

Interactive gambling

Domain names

Australia’s country code Top-Level Domain—the .au domain—is administered by the not-for-profit .au Domain Administration (auDA).

Domain names

Classification

The department provides operational and policy advice on the classification of films, computer games and publications.

Classification

Spam

The Australian Government works with other governments and agencies to enforce local anti-spam laws and share information.

Spam

WSIS+20

The 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will occur in 2025. Australia is actively participating in negotiations.

WSIS+20

Our policy approach

The department has developed content which provides insight into our policy approach to Internet governance.

Our policy approach

Policies

Certain types of developments may be exempt from the requirements to install fibre-ready pit and pipe under Part 20A of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
The ACCC has declared a layer 2-bitstream service. This service is called the local bitstream access service (LBAS). The ACCC declared the LBAS in February 2012, and subsequently made a final access determination for the LBAS declaration.
Before You Dig is Australia’s free referral service for information on the location of underground infrastructure.
Illegal and offensive online content is regulated through the Online Content Scheme under Schedule 5 and 7 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 through a complaints-based mechanism.