LGBTIQA+ Advisory Board recruitment opens while the research method is still in draft

The draft framework and the timing of the board

Pride in Business has published a draft research framework for The State of LGBTQ+ Business in Australia and opened expressions of interest for an LGBTIQA+ Advisory Board. The research begins in March 2027 and no findings exist yet, and the board is being appointed at this stage so that its members can test the method while it can still be changed.

The policy scan

The central task of the research, and the part of the method with the most to test, is a scan of the supplier diversity and social procurement policies published by the ASX 50 and the major Commonwealth and state purchasing agencies. Each judgement in that scan has consequences for the results, including which documents are included, the date on which the snapshot is taken, and whether a policy that refers warmly to diverse suppliers without naming any group should be read as recognising LGBTIQA+ owners or as overlooking them. The draft treats silence cautiously. Where a policy is silent, we will report that LGBTIQA+ ownership is not stated in the documents reviewed, because a published document rarely shows whether silence amounts to exclusion and the two are different findings.

Estimates and interviews

Any estimate of the number of LGBTIQA+ owned businesses will be published as a range with its method set out in full, because the 2026 Census, which will for the first time describe people who run businesses by sexual orientation and gender, counts individual people and has no direct measure of enterprises.

The draft also proposes fifteen to twenty interviews with LGBTIQA+ business owners and five to eight with procurement and supplier diversity leads, and these call for more care than any other part of the method. Information about sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origin and health is sensitive information under the Privacy Act, and gender identity deserves the same care. For LGBTIQA+ owners, running a business can also involve deciding whether being open about who they are has any place in a commercial conversation. Decisions about how people are approached, what they are asked to reveal and how they can withdraw should be informed by people who understand that decision from their own experience. No one will be asked to disclose sensitive information simply to make first contact.

The role and limits of the board

The board has two separate roles. On the research, members will advise on its design before it begins, covering the sample, the coding, the interviews and the presentation of findings, and beyond the research they will advise Just Gold on how to increase its impact in LGBTIQA+ communities through its programs, campaigns and client work.

In both roles the board is advisory, and its members are not directors of Just Gold, do not take on directors’ duties and cannot make decisions for the company. Decisions, including final decisions on the research, remain with Just Gold, which will seek the board’s advice before making them and is recruiting members with the standing to disagree.

Funding, terms and membership

The board is funded through the Victorian Government’s LGBTIQA+ Organisational Development program, and for that reason at least three of its five to eight seats are reserved for people based in Victoria. The research itself is funded by Just Gold and is national in scope, so expressions of interest are welcome from across the country.

Members will meet quarterly on twelve month terms. Some positions are volunteer and some are paid, and applicants indicate which they are seeking. Paid members receive the same fixed fee per meeting, covering preparation and reasonable input between meetings, so that serving on the board does not depend on being able to give time without payment.

We are seeking people who know LGBTIQA+ communities from lived experience and people who know how procurement, government, research, small business and the media operate in practice, and we want a board that includes trans and gender diverse people, First Nations people, people from multicultural backgrounds and people with disability.

Review of the research

The Aurum Foundation, as the research review partner, will review the research design and interpretation and contribute intersectional analysis, examining how experiences differ across cultural background, disability, gender, age and location. We will publish who reviewed the work, when they did so and how we responded to their comments.

How to apply

Expressions of interest close on 6 December 2026. To apply, send a one page expression of interest and your CV to [email protected], with the name of the board in the subject line.

Sources

1. 1. Pride in Business, Research framework: draft for co design (framework page on this site)
2. 2. Pride in Business, The State of LGBTQ+ Business in Australia: research brief (research page on this site)
3. 3. Pride in Business, About (about page on this site)
4. 4. Pride in Business, LGBTIQA+ Advisory Board position description (advisory board page on this site)
5. Victorian Government, LGBTIQA+ Organisational Development program

Source pages last checked 19 October 2026.