] So, we put $5 towards running auDA and the other  $135 get sucked into
] MelbourneIT and is never seen again.  There's not a lot of value in reducing the
] small amount - it's the big dollars that are worth going after.

In rough figures, the way I see the money going on a com.au domain now is: 
  $15	-> Government Tax (GST)
  $5	-> auDA and AUNIC Registry
  $120	-> Melbourne IT Registrar

] As I see it, an improvement on this process would be for auDA to put the running
] of the registry itself out to tender (with sufficient checks and safeguards).

Bearing in mind the $$$ above (you seem to be focussing on "big dollars"),
could you explain why tendering out the running of AUNIC would be a high
priority at this point?

] When the au database management function handled - at I guess another 5 to 10
] bucks - the whole thing starts to look really good.  Resellers could compete 
] for punters at their chosen margin. 

Some larger players will want to become registrars in their own right, not
just resellers, so they compete head on with Melbourne IT and connect.com.au.

__________________________________________________________________________
 David Keegel <djk&#167;cyber.com.au>  URL: http://www.cyber.com.au/users/djk/
Cybersource P/L: Unix Systems Administration and TCP/IP network management