Research framework
How we propose to answer the four questions: the sample, the sources, the coding, the interviews, the review and the limits. The advisory board will co design the final method before the research begins.
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.
Status of this framework
This is a draft. It was published when expressions of interest opened for the LGBTIQA+ Advisory Board so that applicants can see what they would be shaping. The board will review and co design the method before research begins in March 2027, and the final version will be published with the report.
Working definition
For this draft, an LGBTIQA+ owned business is one in which people who identify as LGBTIQA+ own at least 51 per cent of the business and control its management and daily operations. Sole traders are included. Identity is self described and is not verified by us. The threshold follows the majority ownership tests used by the certifiers this framework compares, so findings can be read against them.
The definition is a proposal for co design. The board will review it, including whether a different threshold, a separate category for businesses co owned by LGBTIQA+ and other people, or a broader definition of control is needed. Any change will be published with the final method.
The procurement scan
The procurement scan is the central research task. It covers the published supplier diversity and social procurement policies of the ASX 50 and the major Commonwealth and state purchasing agencies, reviewed one document at a time.
The sample, snapshot date, documents searched and coding categories will be defined before the scan begins. Each entry will record the exact wording and the source date. The coding will distinguish:
- explicit recognition of LGBTIQA+ owned suppliers
- the verification a buyer accepts
- stated geography
- evidence of implementation
- information that is not publicly available
Where a document is silent, the scan will record that LGBTIQA+ ownership is not stated in the documents reviewed, and will not treat that silence as exclusion.
Ownership data
The ownership work will distinguish people who work in their own business from enterprises meeting a majority ownership definition. Because the 2026 Census collects information about individuals, we will assess what its outputs provide before deciding whether separate modelling or a survey is needed. Any estimate of enterprise numbers will be presented as a range with its method shown.
International comparison
The comparison will set out what the United States and Canadian certification models do, what they cost, what they ask of owners, including identity evidence, and what does not transfer to Australia.
Interviews
Fifteen to twenty interviews with LGBTIQA+ business owners and five to eight with procurement and supplier diversity leads.
Participant information and consent will be prepared before recruitment. They will address identity information, optional questions, recording, quotations, reviewer access, withdrawal and the risk of identification through business details. Information about sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origin and health is sensitive information under the Privacy Act, and we treat gender identity with the same care. The first contact route will not require anyone to disclose sensitive information.
Review
The Aurum Foundation is the research review partner. It will provide expert review of the research design and interpretation, together with intersectional analysis. The scope, reviewer, review date and treatment of comments will be recorded on the method page.
Limits
A public policy scan can establish what an organisation says, but on its own it cannot establish how consistently a policy is applied or whether any supplier has benefited from it. Interviews can add accounts of practice, although a single account does not establish a national pattern. The report will state these limits alongside its findings.
Data
Supporting data will be published where consent, confidentiality and licensing permit, on a standing data page that is updated annually.
