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Trust in industries

7 Mar 2017

Q. How much trust do you have in the following industries to act in the public interest? 

  Total a lot/some trust   A lot of trust Some trust Not much trust No trust at all Don’t know   Jan 2013

A lot/ some trust

Tourism 70% 18% 52% 16% 5% 9% 68%
Agriculture 68% 18% 50% 15% 6% 11% 72%
Manufacturing 55% 8% 47% 27% 9% 10% 56%
Retail 53% 8% 45% 29% 10% 9% 47%
Construction and development 46% 8% 38% 31% 14% 9% 48%
Telecommunications 36% 7% 29% 35% 20% 9% 37%
Mining 36%   6% 30% 30% 245 11% 32%
Banking 33%   8% 25% 30% 30% 7% 33%
Media 29%   3% 26% 31% 31% 8% 30%
Power companies 24% 3% 21% 35% 32% 8% 18%

The industries most trusted to act in the public interest were tourism (70% some/a lot of trust), agriculture (68%) and manufacturing (55%).

The industries least trusted to act in the public interest were power companies (24%), the media (29%), banking (33%) and mining (36%).

Since this question was asked in 2013, trust in power companies has increased 6 points – although remains the least trusted industry.

The only industry on which there were major differences was mining where 50% of Liberal/National voters had a lot/some trust compared to only 30% of Labor voters and 18% of Greens voters.

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