National Address Management Framework

Opera House aerial photograph

NAMF is a standards-based framework that guides the process for verifying addresses and provides a standard for the exchange of address data.

The ultimate aim of this nationally-consistent, standards-based framework is to provide a unique address where

One address = one location

The Ministerial Online and Communications Council (a Ministerial Council of the Council of Australian Governments) endorsed the NAMF at its meeting on 12 December 2008. This means that NAMF is to be implemented by the Commonwealth Government and the Governments of all States and Territories.

NAMF is a technical framework which consists of a single authoritative address data set, address data interchange standard and web services specification.

The single authoritative address data set consists of:

  • For location address operations and functions including address validation – the Geo-coded National Address File (G-NAF) from PSMA Australia.
  • For postal delivery operations and functions - the Postal Address File (PAF) from Australia Post which is provided by accredited Address Matching Approval System (AMAS) providers for Australia.

G-NAF and PAF provide complementary location and postal address services and together provide a complete and authoritative source of addressing data.

The address data interchange is based on AS4590-2006 and covers the interchange of client information and the compliant xml schema for interchange of names and addresses. This is currently being reviewed by Standards Australia.

The web services specifications covers the standards and specifications for web services to support core address management and operational functions.

A glossary of terms specifies the standardised and agreed language used in the framework.