Australia has not only has recorded its highest trust gap on record, it has the largest trust inequality in the world, says the annual Edelman Trust Barometer. It found Australians do not trust any of the four institutions measured: government, business, media and NGOs.
Edelman Australia CEO Michelle Hutton said environmental issues are now at the top of Australians’ concerns, with 89 per cent of the general population citing the bushfires, droughts, water shortage and global warming among their top concerns.
Hutton said: “While Australians are asking big questions about the future, institutions must drive action, embrace potentially difficult change and instil the confidence the nation is looking for.
“Australia’s informed public saw a severe breakdown of trust from the government in response to the recent bushfire catastrophes. This should have been an opportunity to unite the nation and build security but instead, the lack of empathy, authenticity and communications crushed trust across the country.”
Australia’s highest trust gap on record, saw a 23-point gap between the trusting informed public (68-points) and the more sceptical mass population (45-points). Following the bushfires, a supplementary trust barometer found a dramatic trust regression, reducing that gap to 14 points.
“Australians no longer feel in control. The new decade marks an opportunity for our institutions to step up, take action, and lead on key issues that will unite Australians and instil hope for the future,” Hutton said.
Business seen as competent but low on ethics
Business was the only institution seen as competent, with a 56-point edge over government. Respondents agreed business could get things done – a key factor in competence – but fell short of ethical behaviour.
Generating value for owners (56 per cent), driving economic prosperity (46 per cent) and leading innovation (43 per cent) were seen as the areas businesses do best in.
“Trust today is granted on two distinct attributes: competence, delivering on promises, and ethical behaviour, doing the right thing and working to improve society. It is no longer only a matter of what you do—it’s also how you do it. Trust is undeniably linked to doing what is right. The battle for trust will be fought on the field of ethical behaviour,” said Ms Hutton.
The barometer found ethical drivers were three times more important than competence. Edelman’s Trust Management study, with data tracked across 40 major companies in three markets showed that ethical drivers such as integrity, dependability and purpose drive 76 per cent of the trust capital of a company, while competence accounts for only 24 per cent.
Hutton said, unfairness, dishonesty and a lack of vision for the future were key reasons why we distrust institutions. Over half of Australians said government (61 per cent) and business (59 per cent) serve the interest of only a few.
How to fix it
Across the board, people believe that cross-institutional partnership is the pathway for change, Hutton said. “Every institution has the opportunity to earn trust by leveraging complementary skills and focusing on their strengths. And CEOs must lead: 78 per cent of Australians believe CEOs should take the lead on change rather than waiting for government to impose it.
“Overwhelmingly our supplementary study showed people are looking to government and business to partner on vital issues of the moment. Listening to stakeholder concerns and partnering together to achieve a common goal is this year a key theme across institutions – but with Australians not able to see their ability or willingness to do this in a meaningful way,” Hutton said.
In its 20th year, the Edelman Trust Barometer measures trust and credibility through an online survey of 34,000 people. It included 1,150 general population respondents across 28 markets and 200 informed public respondents in each market, except China and the US, which have a sample of 500 informed public respondents each.
All informed public respondents met the following criteria: aged 25-64, college-educated; household income in the top quartile for their age in their country; read or watch business/news media at least several times a week; follow public policy issues in the news at least several times a week.
