The State of LGBTQ+ Business in Australia
A national research report on LGBTIQA+ business ownership and its place in Australia’s purchasing systems. Published free by Just Gold through its impact program, with research review and intersectional analysis from the Aurum Foundation.
Just launched. We have published the research framework and opened expressions of interest for the LGBTIQA+ Advisory Board. The board has not yet been appointed, and its members will co design the research with us before it begins in March 2027. No findings have been published.
What it is
The State of LGBTQ+ Business in Australia is the first research project of Pride in Business and examines the Australian market. The research begins in March 2027, after the advisory board has co designed the method.
What it asks
The report addresses four questions that existing Australian data does not answer.
How many LGBTIQA+ owned businesses are there?
The 2026 Census will, for the first time, allow owner managers to be described by sexual orientation and gender when results are released in 2027, but it counts individuals and provides no count of enterprises. The report will set out what that data can and cannot establish, and will present any estimate of enterprise numbers as a range with its method shown.
Do Australia’s major buyers recognise LGBTIQA+ ownership as a supplier diversity category?
This is the central question of the report, which will scan the published supplier diversity and social procurement policies of the ASX 50 and the major Commonwealth and state purchasing agencies, one document at a time, recording whether LGBTIQA+ ownership is named, what evidence is accepted, and whether anything suggests the category is used. It will distinguish a policy that is silent on LGBTIQA+ ownership from one that excludes it, and published recognition from evidence of purchasing.
How does Australia compare?
The United States and Canada have certified LGBTIQA+ owned businesses for years and place them inside national supplier diversity systems alongside Indigenous, women owned and minority owned business. Australia has no equivalent arrangement: it has a Commonwealth policy with targets for Indigenous business, certification for social enterprises and women owned businesses with considerably less policy support, and no certifier for LGBTIQA+ owned business. The report will set out what the overseas models do, what they cost, what they ask of owners, and what does not transfer.
What do owners and buyers say?
Fifteen to twenty interviews with LGBTIQA+ business owners and five to eight with procurement and supplier diversity leads, on why LGBTIQA+ owned businesses do not appear in supply chains and what would have to exist for that to change.
Intended use of the report
The report is intended to provide evidence on a question that has so far been debated without data, and to give procurement officers, policy staff and journalists a sourced reference they can cite. It will also give LGBTIQA+ business owners an account of where they stand in procurement systems designed for other groups, and provide an evidence base for any decisions the sector makes about what should be built next. Just Gold will not make those decisions on the sector’s behalf.
Limits of the report
The report will not offer a count of businesses with more precision than the data supports, rank employers or argue for a certification body. If the evidence points towards a certification body, the report will say so and leave the conclusion to the sector.
How the research is done
The work is roughly seventy per cent desk research and thirty per cent interviews, over six to eight weeks for the procurement scan, the comparison and the interviews. The ownership analysis depends on 2026 Census releases, with employment and income data due in October 2027, so it will be completed after that release. The report will be published with a full method page and a standing data page that is updated annually. The research framework sets out the draft method.
The Aurum Foundation is the research review partner and will provide expert review and intersectional analysis, examining the research design and interpretation, including how experiences may differ across cultural background, disability, gender, age and location.
Timetable
- October 2026
- Research framework published. Advisory board expressions of interest open.
- 6 December 2026
- Expressions of interest close.
- Early 2027
- Advisory board appointed and the method co designed.
- March 2027
- Research begins.
- June 2027
- First 2026 Census results due.
- Publication
- To be set with the advisory board once the method is agreed.
Taking part
We will interview LGBTIQA+ business owners and people responsible for procurement or supplier diversity. Participant information and a secure contact process will be published here before recruitment opens. A subscription to The Briefing and consent to take part in the research are separate decisions. To hear when recruitment opens without telling us anything about yourself, subscribe to The Briefing.
Procurement and supplier diversity leads: if you would like your organisation’s published policy considered in the scan, email the link to [email protected].
