diff --git a/lib/amqp_client.js b/lib/amqp_client.js
index 01d0fb2..4d71271 100644
--- a/lib/amqp_client.js
+++ b/lib/amqp_client.js
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ AMQPClient.prototype.createSender = function(address, policyOverrides) {
     throw new Error('Must connect before creating links');
   }
 
-  address = u.parseLinkAddress(address || this._defaultQueue, this.policy);
+  address = this.policy.parseLinkAddress(address || this._defaultQueue);
   policyOverrides = policyOverrides || {};
 
   var linkName = u.linkName(address.name, policyOverrides),
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ AMQPClient.prototype.createReceiver = function(address, policyOverrides) {
     throw new Error('Must connect before creating links');
   }
 
-  address = u.parseLinkAddress(address || this._defaultQueue, this.policy);
+  address = this.policy.parseLinkAddress(address || this._defaultQueue);
   policyOverrides = policyOverrides || {};
 
   var linkName = u.linkName(address.name, policyOverrides),
@@ -267,9 +267,9 @@ AMQPClient.prototype.createReceiver = function(address, policyOverrides) {
         }
       }, policyOverrides, this.policy.receiverLink);
 
-  // if the policy supports the defaultSubjects feature, and a subject has been
-  // provided then automatically set up a filter to match on that subject.
-  if (this.policy.defaultSubjects && !!address.subject) {
+  // if a subject has been provided then automatically set up a filter to
+  // match on that subject.
+  if (!!address.subject) {
     if (address.subject === 'undefined' || address.subject === 'null') {
       throw new errors.InvalidSubjectError(address.subject);
     }
diff --git a/lib/policies/policy.js b/lib/policies/policy.js
index 85133a7..f7a12f5 100644
--- a/lib/policies/policy.js
+++ b/lib/policies/policy.js
@@ -106,6 +106,28 @@ function Policy(overrides) {
   return Object.seal(this);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Parses a link address used for creating Sender and Receiver links.
+ *
+ * The resulting object has a required `name` property (used as the source
+ * address in the attach performative), as well as an optional `subject` property
+ * which (if specified) will automatically create a source filter.
+ *
+ * @param {String}    the address to parse
+ * @return {Object}
+ */
+Policy.prototype.parseLinkAddress = function(address) {
+  // @todo: this "parsing" should be far more rigorous
+  if (!this.defaultSubjects) {
+    return { name: address };
+  }
+
+  var parts = address.split('/');
+  var result = { name: parts.shift() };
+  if (parts.length) result.subject = parts.shift();
+  return result;
+};
+
 /**
  * Parses an address for use when connecting to an AMQP 1.0 broker
  *
diff --git a/lib/utilities.js b/lib/utilities.js
index 9842ff8..ca36f17 100644
--- a/lib/utilities.js
+++ b/lib/utilities.js
@@ -96,18 +96,6 @@ function bufferEquals(lhs, rhs, offset1, offset2, size) {
 
 utilities.bufferEquals = bufferEquals;
 
-// @todo: this "parsing" should be far more rigorous
-utilities.parseLinkAddress = function(address, policy) {
-  if (policy && !policy.defaultSubjects) {
-    return { name: address };
-  }
-
-  var parts = address.split('/');
-  var result = { name: parts.shift() };
-  if (parts.length) result.subject = parts.shift();
-  return result;
-};
-
 function deepMerge() {
   var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
   var helper = function(tgt, src, key) {
diff --git a/test/unit/address.test.js b/test/unit/address.test.js
index 8c9773f..6efb8f5 100644
--- a/test/unit/address.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/address.test.js
@@ -139,7 +139,8 @@ describe('Address Parsing', function() {
     });
 
     it('should support links with names prefixed with `topic://` and `queue://`', function() {
-      var address = u.parseLinkAddress('topic://mytopic', ActiveMQPolicy);
+      var policy = ActiveMQPolicy;
+      var address = policy.parseLinkAddress('topic://mytopic');
       expect(address.name).to.eql('topic://mytopic');
       var linkName = u.linkName(address.name, {});
       var nonUniqueLinkNamePart = linkName.split('_')[0];
diff --git a/test/unit/test_utilities.js b/test/unit/test_utilities.js
index 2434a5a..77480b9 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_utilities.js
+++ b/test/unit/test_utilities.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
-var expect = require('chai').expect,
+var Policy = require('../../lib/policies/policy'),
+    expect = require('chai').expect,
     u = require('../../lib/utilities'),
     tu = require('./../testing_utils');
 
@@ -157,7 +158,8 @@ describe('Utilities', function() {
       }
     ].forEach(function(testCase) {
       it('should match ' + testCase.description, function() {
-        var result = u.parseLinkAddress(testCase.address);
+        var policy = new Policy();
+        var result = policy.parseLinkAddress(testCase.address);
         expect(result).to.eql(testCase.expected);
       });
     });