http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23389.html

  Kangaroo domain court
  By Kieren McCarthy
  Posted: 13/12/2001 at 16:50 GMT

  A joint venture between RegistrarsAsia and Afilias
  has been awarded the com.au, net.au, asn.au, id.au
  and org.au second-level domains.

  The decision deepens the controversy regarding
  ownership of the .au country top-level domain for
  Australia.

  [..]

which references an interesting paper on the legal state of play:

  Who controls .org.au? Where domain name policy
  and law collide

http://dnsaction.terminus.net.au/dnsarticle.html

Ian