Australia Trust score
Executive summary
Australia’s institutional trust picture is mixed: 46% of Australians reported “high or moderately high” trust in the federal government in 2023, above the OECD average of 39% [1] [2]. Independent surveys show declining trust in business and rising “grievance” — Edelman finds 62% of Australians have a moderate or high sense of grievance and net trust slipped from 51% in 2024 to 49% in 2025, with business trust falling sharply to 48% [3] [4].
1. The headline numbers: government trust is middling but above OECD peers
The OECD’s country work and government summaries put Australia’s federal-government trust at 46% reporting high or moderately high trust in 2023, a rise since 2021 and above the OECD average of 39% — a clear signal that, on measured scales, Australians remain more trusting of their national government than many peers [1] [2]. The ABS reiterates that 46% figure when summarising the OECD survey findings [5].
2. Trust is uneven across institutions — NGOs and courts outrank parties and media
The OECD country note shows Australians trust police (68%), “other people” (65%) and courts (59%) more than the federal government (46%), while political parties (34%) and news media (41%) are among the least trusted institutions [2]. Edelman’s Australian reporting also places NGOs above other institutions and names media as the least trusted, tallying with OECD patterns [4].
3. Business has a clear trust problem, driven by economic anxieties and grievance
Edelman’s 2025 Trust Barometer records a steep fall in trust in business — down to 48% in 2025 from 60% in 2024 — and links that decline to economic fears such as trade conflicts, recession risk and automation [4]. Edelman frames the picture as “Trust and the Crisis of Grievance,” reporting that 62% of Australians have moderate or high grievance — a worldview that sharply lowers perceived ethics and competence of business among those respondents [3] [4].
4. Multiple “trust” indices measure different things — compare carefully
Different organisations publish trust metrics for different targets: OECD and ABS report on institutional trust in government and public institutions (46% for federal government in 2023) [1] [5] [2]; Edelman measures broader public attitudes and “grievance” and reports net trust shifts and sectoral trust declines [3] [4]; Roy Morgan and Trusted Brands produce commercial Net Trust Scores for brands and banks, showing sectoral variation and brand-level trust differentials [6] [7] [8]. These metrics are complementary but not interchangeable [2] [6].
5. Consumer-level trust diverges from institutional trust — banks and digital services show contrasts
Roy Morgan and industry reporting show customer-owned banks and some major brands retain higher consumer trust within their sectors, even as overall bank distrust is elevated; customer-owned banks outperformed investor-owned banks on Net Trust Score metrics into 2025 [8] [9]. Separately, a Checkout.com digital index places Australia among the top ten countries for digital-economy trust, indicating specific trust pockets in fintech and digital payments even as broader institutional trust wobbles [10].
6. Recent public-service reporting shows improvement but methodological caveats remain
The Australian Public Service Commission’s 2025 reporting indicates detailed findings of rising trust in some public services, with agencies like DFAT and Medicare scoring high on service trust, yet the Canberra Times notes methodological changes complicate direct comparisons with prior years [11] [12]. Available sources do not mention a single, national “Australia Trust score”; instead, trust is reported by organisation and survey with differing methods (not found in current reporting).
7. What the data imply — and what it does not say
Taken together, the sources show Australia is not in wholesale collapse of trust: federal-government trust exceeds OECD norms [1] [2], pockets of high trust remain in courts, police, NGOs and some public services [2] [12], and consumer trust in certain brands and digital services remains strong [10] [8]. At the same time, pronounced public “grievance” and a sharp fall in business trust are clear warnings about economic and social anxieties that shape perceptions [3] [4]. Claims that Australia has a single, unified “Trust score” are unsupported by the available reporting; instead, multiple indices give different but intersecting pictures (not found in current reporting).
Limitations: these conclusions are drawn only from the supplied sources and reflect different survey questions, timing and methodologies across OECD, Edelman, Roy Morgan and government reports [3] [1] [4] [2] [6].