Aussies and Kiwis trust their babysitters more than their political leaders

Cleaners more trustworthy than the Prime Minister? Vets more trusted than Priests? Accountants more trusted than Lawyers? Travel agents trusted more than Banks?

According to a survey of 1002 individuals undertaken concurrently in Australia and New Zealand by MSI Legal & Accounting in the first week of July, Aussies have a certain view of who they trust and who they take a dim view of – with many similarities and some marked differences to their Kiwi counterparts.

Respondents to the survey were asked to apply the ‘MSI Trustometer’ to a range of 42 different people and organisations in the community, from The Prime Minister and Telstra to ambulance drivers and baby sitters.

Not surprisingly both Aussies and Kiwis placed doctors, ambulance drivers and nurses in their country’s Top 5. At the other end of the scale respondents in both countries viewed car salesmen, real estate agents and telemarketers as least trustworthy.

But in between there were a few surprises. While the fact that John Howard and Helen Clark are both considered less trustworthy than baby sitters (so much for the nanny state) may indicate our cynicism towards politicians, the fact that lawyers achieved a Top 5 ranking in New Zealand but only came in at number 20 in Australia indicate some differences of opinion.

Priests may have suffered from bad publicity over the past few years in both countries (19th in Aus, 15th in NZ) but what makes optometrists and pharmacists so trustworthy? While priests deal in faith, the contribution of optometrists and pharmacists may perhaps be more measurable – good eyesight and repaired health respectively.

Perhaps surprisingly, both Aussies and Kiwis ranked Politicians in Opposition in their ‘5 least trusted’, with Politicians in Government ahead in the trust stakes in both countries.

MSI Legal & Accounting Network spokesperson Charles Hornor commented: “Perhaps most interesting in this survey is that those who come high up the list are those we feel an instinctive need to trust such as ambulance drivers, doctors, dentists and optometrists all fall into this category. Their careers are focussed on helping others: ambulance drivers strive to get us to hospital in one piece; doctors strive to save lives; optometrists help us get the best out of our eyes.”

Hornor continued, “At the other end of the scale those who were rated as least trustworthy all fall into a different ‘sales-oriented’ category. Whatever the realities of the individuals it is therefore not at all surprising to see car salesmen, telemarketers, real estate agents and politicians positioned at this end of the scale.”

For the MSI Trust survey results please contact Anna Toscano via email on anna.toscano@strategyco.net

Please click here for the Trust Survey 2007 results.