The OECD Trust Survey explores people’s perceptions of different public institutions in their country and the degree to which they trust their government. These perceptions range from day-to-day interactions with public institutions to decision making on complex policy issues. Initiated in 2021, the Trust Survey was carried out in 30 OECD countries in October and November 2023, with results representative of their respective adult populations.
OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions 2024 Results - Country Notes: Australia
Trust in public institutions
In 2023, 46% of Australians reported high or moderately high trust in the federal government, above the OECD average of 39%.
This number represents an increase by 8 percentage points since 2021, the 3rd highest increase among the eighteen OECD countries with available data.
Figure 1. Trust in national/federal government, 2023
Share of population who indicate different levels of trust in their national/federal government (on a 0-10 scale), 2023
Note: ‘High or moderately high’ corresponds to the aggregation of response options 6-10 to the question “On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely, how much do you trust the national/federal government?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4.
As in most OECD countries, Australians place more trust in the police (68%), other people (65%), and courts and the judicial system (59%) than in the federal government (46%). Around half of the population reports high or moderately high trust in the local government (51%) and the federal civil service (50%). Although above OECD averages, political parties (34%) and news media (41%) are the least trusted institutions in Australia.
Figure 2. Share of population with high or moderately high trust in different public institutions, other people and media, 2021 and 2023
Note: ‘High or moderately high’ corresponds to the aggregation of response options 6-10 to the question “On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely, how much do you trust [institution]?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4.
Australians who feel that the current political system does not let people like them have a say tend to trust the federal government 52 percentage points less than those who feel they have political voice. This trust gap is larger than the 47 percentage points gap on average across OECD countries.
Men in Australia on average are more likely to have high or moderately high trust in the federal government (54%) than women do (38%). This gender trust gap is above the 7 percentage point average gender trust gap across OECD countries; and represents the largest deviation from the OECD trend of all the population group comparisons in Australia1.
The Australian trust gap between the old and young age is below the OECD average, while the trust gaps between those with and without financial concerns is above the OECD average. The trust gap between people with lower and higher educational attainment in Australia is similar to the OECD average gap.
Figure 3. Share of population with high or moderately high trust in the national/federal government by population group, 2023
Note: ‘High or moderately high’ corresponds to the aggregation of response options 6-10 to the question “On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is not at all and 10 is completely, how much do you trust the national/federal government?”; neutral to option 5 and “low or no” to response options 0-4. The share with high or moderately high trust in government among people who are “50 or older” is identical to the share among people who are “between 18-29 years old”, and does therefore not appear in the figure.
Perceptions of the public governance drivers of trust
Perceptions of day-to-day interactions with public institutions
For all of the considered measures, Australians’ satisfaction with day-to-day interactions with public institutions is above the OECD average.
A large majority of Australians (71%) with recent experience with the education system are satisfied with it, compared to 57% on average across the OECD. Moreover, 68% are satisfied with the administrative services they used, an important driver of trust in the civil service, compared to a 66% OECD average.
Australians find it more likely than the OECD average that their application for government benefits would be treated fairly: 64% of people in Australia find this likely, compared to the OECD average of 52%.
Perceptions of integrity of public employees are low in most countries: 41% of Australians expect that public employees would refuse bribes to speed up service access, although still higher than the OECD average of 36%.
Figure 4. Perceptions of day-to-day interactions between the population and public institutions
Share of population who are satisfied with public services or find a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and Australia, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Australia of the share of respondents who choose a response of 6-10 on the 0-10 scale for the above questions. Satisfaction with public services is restricted to recent service users.
Perceptions on decision making on complex policy issues
Australia performs better than the OECD average in almost all measures of decision-making on complex policy issues. However, in Australia and across the OECD, a lower share of people have positive perceptions regarding complex decision-making than regarding day-to-day interactions with public institutions.
A large majority of Australians (62%) find it likely that the government would be ready to protect lives in case of a national emergency, compared to 53% on average across OECD countries.
A majority of Australians (52%) expect the government would use the best available evidence in decision-making, a share that is 11 percentage points higher than the OECD average (41%).
Slightly below half of Australians (46%) believe that the political system allows people like them to have a say in what government does. This important driver of trust in the federal government is 16 percentage points higher than on average across OECD countries (30%).
Perceptions of government integrity are low in most countries: Only 25% of people in Australia find it likely that government would refuse a corporation’s demand that could be harmful to society as a whole, lower than the average across OECD countries (30%).
Figure 5. Perceptions of government decision making on complex policy issues
Share of population who are confident in or find a positive action in the respective situation likely, OECD and Australia, 2023
Note: The figure presents the unweighted OECD averages and values for Australia of the share of respondents who choose a response of 6-10 on the 0-10 scale for the above questions.
For more information see oe.cd/trust
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
Note
← 1. The Trust and Satisfaction in Australian Democracy survey found a trust gap between men and women of 11% for the June and 9% for the November wave. Methodological differences, including a different response scale and a sampling methodology relying on different quotas, can contribute to differences in the measured trust gap.