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Distrustful nation: Australians lose faith in politics, media and business

Michael Koziol

Who do you trust? Increasingly the answer seems to be: nobody.

After a year when voters worldwide thumbed their noses at mainstream politics and the elite, a landmark annual survey has found trust in major institutions is eroding at a rapid rate. And the effect is particularly pronounced here in Australia.

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The 2017 Trust Baromoter by Edelman, the world's largest PR outfit, has documented an "implosion of trust" where one in two countries (including Australia) believe the entire system is failing and harbour deep fears of immigration, globalisation and changing values.

"We're talking about a trust crisis that is causing a systemic meltdown," says Edelman president Richard Edelman. Social researcher Hugh Mackay told Fairfax Media: "The big picture for Western societies, but especially Australia, is that respect and trust for institutions in general is in decline. That's not a healthy attitude for any society."

Despite the narrow re-election of Malcolm Turnbull, Australians' trust in government plunged 8 points last year to 37 (out of 100) – one of the sharpest falls of any country measured. By comparison, trust was stable in Britain, while in the US it rose 8 points to 47. The only countries to experience a similar collapse in governmental trust were Mexico, Russia and Canada.

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Journalists fared no better than politicians. Already among nationalities with the least faith in the fourth estate, Australians' trust in media plunged a further 10 points to 32 – twice the average global fall. By comparison, trust in US media was stable and fell by four points in Britain. But faith in journalists also fell steeply in Canada, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.

Business also took a hit on trust. Australia now views chief executives in a very dim light, according to the research: just 26 per cent rated big bosses as credible or very credible, a decline of 13 per cent. It was a bad year for CEOs globally: across 28 countries, the percentage of people who see them as credible fell by 12 percentage points to 37 per cent.

We even lost faith in non-government organisations such as charities: trust fell by five points in Australia, and two points globally.

But it was on questions about injustice, the elites and the future that Australians proved the most pessimistic. Australia was among 10 countries with an above-average sense that the "system is failing" – a metric based on questions about whether elites are out-of-touch, whether hard work is rewarded and whether the country is moving in the right direction.

As well as cynicism about the future, Australians had above-average fears about immigration, globalisation and the erosion of social values. Unlike the US and Britain, we did not have inflated fears of the pace of change – and unlike many countries, we were not particularly afraid of corruption.

Mackay says there are good reasons for the collapse in Australians' trust. A multitude of scandals including politicians' travel rorts, sexual abuse in the church, trade union corruption and misbehaviour by the banks has seriously tainted the country's major institutions, he says.

"It's not as though this is just a strange stage of history," Mackay says. "I don't think there's any mystery about why it has happened. Institutions are just like individuals in this respect: if they become too powerful, they will be corrupted by their own power and they will start to become inward-looking."

Globally, the report backed up several assertions made about the world in the Trump era. Trust in traditional media declined by five points to 57, while people became more trusting in online media, which rose five points to 51. Overall, people rated their peers ("a person like yourself") as just as credible as technical or academic experts, although the credibility of all groups fell.

It came as Ipsos research published this week found more than 70 per cent of Australians believe the country needs "a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful", while almost half want a leader who is "willing to break the rules".

Mackay says he is "very concerned" about the trend toward distrust, but he also senses an opportunity. "There could really be a bit of a clear out," he says, citing renewal in the church and disruption of the two-party system. "We're going through one of those periods of really disturbing disengagement, distrust, loss of respect for these institutions, which in the end will be good for us."

The online Edelman Intelligence survey interviewed 1150 people in each of 28 countries during October and November 2016.

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