University research on trust confirms what we all know

In a study released by the Australian National University it is reported that 3 out of 4 people believe people in government only look after themselves and only one in four think the government can be trusted.

The lack of trust is not just in our politicians but also government institutions have reached a historic low point in Australia.

In 2019, just 59 per cent of Australians said they were satisfied with democracy, the lowest since the dismissal of Gough Whitlam. Satisfaction with democracy in Australia has also plummeted more sharply in Australia than in the UK following Brexit and the US following the election of Donald Trump.

Is this any wonder at this result when we consider just a few of the following not necessarily in any order:

• The number of prime ministers we have had over the past decade.
• Holding on to power at all costs
• Continuing rorting of travel allowances and the like
• Increasing charges and taxes out of line with the pace of wage increases but perceived drop in education, health, police and public transport services.
• Salary increases for politicians and senior public servants out of line with the rest of the community
• The increasing cost and slowness of the courts
• NBN – No bloody network!
• The about face on insurance taxes and level of taxation in general. For example the luxury car tax was introduced to protect Australian car manufacturing. We no longer have any manufacturers, the tax is still there with no indexation for years and this tax is compounded with GST and then state government stamp duty.
• Failure to address high fuel and electricity charges. The cost of electricity in Singapore is half that of Australia.
• The mess with 457 visas and immigration policy in general
• The Brisbane Flood dam fiasco
• Lawyer X
• Lack of investment in addressing flooding, droughts/water shortages, and or bush fires.
• Non conforming building materials fiasco
• The abandonment of the Melbourne East West link costing tax payers $1.1 billion in cash and a drop in productivity.
• The affordability of housing for our children and grandchildren.
• Proposed extra tax on electric vehicles while in most other countries there is a tax incentive to reduce reliance on petrol and diesel.
• Continuing changes to superannuation

I could go on but this list is too depressing already.

To come in with a lower rating than the UK government with their disgraceful of handling of Brexit.

Of course our politicians are not alone in declining trust. Major corporations and their leaders, many religious organisations, banks and even the insurance industry thanks to the practices highlighted by the Hayne Royal Commission. Insurance is certainly not the same industry I joined in 1971.

I have this theory that the Australian population really took umbrage at the cricket ball tampering. As a society we have had a gut full of declining trust and we have come to accept this in our politicians and banks but we would not stand for it in the last bastion of fair play. Hence the punishments dished out were demonstrably harsher than that imposed on players guilty of the same poor behavior in other countries.

The trouble with all of this lack of trust is it takes years to build and can be destroyed in seconds.

As we see with the banks, a breach of trust can result in significant fines, increased regulations, senior leaders losing their jobs, shareholder dissatisfaction with a potential of class actions, and loss of brand damage.

While we need to make our politicians accountable, we need to start with ourselves.