Distrust on the Rise: Edelman Trust Barometer exposes a crisis of grievance across Australia

The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer has revealed that Australia has again slipped into distrust territory, with an overall Trust Index of 49 (average percent trust in business, government, media, and NGOs). This year’s report, “Trust and the Crisis of Grievance” identifies a rising fear of discrimination, affecting 1 in 2 Australians, and reveals a belief that hostile activism is a legitimate course of action for change.

The Crisis of Grievance is felt across Australian society. The report shows 62% of Australians feel moderately or highly aggrieved, defined as those Australians who believe that government and business serve the select few, that their actions hurt me, that the system favours the rich and that the rich are getting richer while regular people struggle.

“The 25th anniversary of our trust study is an opportunity for us to mark this moment in time and consider the next 25 years,” said Tom Robinson, CEO of Edelman Australia. “With an impending Australian Federal election, our data presents a warning sign to our leaders. Australians are simply not feeling optimistic about our future prosperity and this lack of hope is one of the key factors driving a sense of grievance. Only 17% of Australians believe that the next generation will be better off compared to today.”

The data shows a generational difference in how Australians believe they should fight for the society they want. Nearly 1 in 3 Australians see hostile activism as a viable means to drive change, with this increasing to over 1 in 2 for Australians aged 18-34. This means they would approve of at least one of the following actions to bring about change that would lead to a better future: attacking people online, intentionally spreading disinformation, threatening or committing violence, or damaging public or private property.

Globally, other key factors impacting levels of grievance are the mass-class trust divide – lowincome respondents globally trust institutions 13 points less than those with high-income (Trust Index of 48 vs. 61). There is a global unprecedented lack of faith in institutional leaders – an average of 69% of respondents worry government officials, business leaders and journalists deliberately mislead them, up an average of 11 points since 2021. Lastly, there is confusion over credible information – with 63% of respondents saying it’s becoming harder to tell if news was produced by a respectable source or from attempted deception.

For the past several years around the world, business has been the default solution for societal issues because it is seen as outperforming government on competence (currently scoring 48 points better than government, globally) and ethics (29 points better). Currently in Australia, counter to the populist push in the US for business to deprioritise purpose-based strategies, we find a real expectation that business is not going far enough to address our biggest societal issues.

As the most trusted institution in Australia, NGOs are seen as the institution best placed to fight against divisiveness and repair the fabric of society. Rebuilding trust starts with the facts and media is still our least trusted institution. Of the 28 countries studied we are the third least trusting of media, and most Australians believe that the media prioritises commercial interests over public interest, putting ideology before facts.

“With Trust, economic optimism grows, and grievance dissipates,” said Robinson. “The 25th Edelman Trust Barometer points to how we can create a future where trust in institutions isn’t necessarily the antidote but rather act as the proverbial canary in the mine; pointing to whether we as a country are heading in the right direction. The antidote lies in Australia’s sense of equity and fairness, that economic prosperity is available and accessible to the many.”

Other key Australian findings from the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer include:

•       Lack of Trust in Top Economies: Australia (49) joins five of the largest 10 global economies as being among the least trusting nations on the Trust Index: Japan (the least trusting at 37), Germany (41), UK (43), U.S. (47) and France (48).
•       Australians Feel Mislead:  64% of Australians worry Government leaders are lying, 66% worry Business leaders are lying, and 68% worry journalists and reporters are lying.
•       Geopolitics Inciting Job Fears: Fears of job insecurity due to the impacts of international trade conflicts are a top concern for Australian employees (with 51% of employees worried – other factors causing job worries are foreign competitors (46%), a looming recession (51%), and automation (48%).
•       Women and Australians Age 55+ See Greatest Increases in Fear of Discrimination: Since last year, fear of experiencing prejudice, discrimination or racism has gone up 14 points among women and 13 points among those age 55 or older.
•       The Wealthy Seen as The Problem: A majority believe they avoid paying their fair share of taxes (72%), and 60% blame their selfishness for many of our problems.

For further information on Edelman’s 2025 Australian Trust Barometer visit: www.edelman.com.au

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