BoM, CSIRO and AEC among Australia’s most trusted institutions
The Bureau of Meteorology is Australia’s most trusted national institution, according to a DemosAU poll of 1238 Australians.
More than six out of ten Australians indicated they trust the national weather services provider, compared to less than one in ten (9%) who distrusted it.
That placed it first out of a list of 12 institutions tested as part of DemosAU’s TrustWatch survey.
The CSIRO was the second most trusted, with 54% indicating they trusted the science agency, compared to 7% who distrusted it, followed by the Australian Electoral Commission (53% trust, 11% distrust).
At the other end of the spectrum, only 28% of Australians trust the criminal justice system, compared to 38% who distrust it. The Australian Energy Market Operator, the Senate and House of Representatives rounded out the bottom four.
DemosAU Director and Head of Research George Hasanakos said Australians showed a greater tendency to trust organisations seen as following science, or are objective, in the case of the AEC.
“Attitudes towards Australia’s parliamentary bodies are weighed down by partisanship – with a Labor federal government, Labor supporters are considerably more likely to trust these institutions at present than Liberal, One Nation or Greens voters,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the Australian Energy Market Operator’s trust levels may have suffered due to community anger at rises in energy prices, as well as climate politics, while the criminal justice system was navigating a range of issues across different state jurisdictions from youth crime to the handling of sexual assault and domestic violence.
“Energy policy and crime are two of the most contentious issues in Australia – and that is reflected – fairly or not – in the trust in the institutions that operate in these fields.”
When asked for their overall impressions, 55% of respondents indicated they trust Australia’s national institutions overall, compared to 21% who distrusted them.
The poll showed trust in institutions generally declined with age: 61% of 18-24 year olds trust our national institutions, a similar level to those aged 25-34 and 35-44 – but drops to 49% for 45-54 year olds and 51% for over 55s.
Trust was also higher among those with university degrees than those with TAFE-equivalent or high school educations, and among those in inner metro areas, compared to those in outer metro or rural/regional areas.
Politically, Labor and Greens voters were currently most inclined to trust our institutions, compared to Liberal or others voters. One Nation voters were the least trusting at 24%.
TrustWatch is a new regular polling series from DemosAU, tracking Australians’ faith in our democracy, institutions, leading figures and more.
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