A special Roy Morgan End of Financial Year (EOFY) webinar with Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine and Nine Network Finance Editor Chris Kohler discussed Australian perspectives on corporate Australia, particularly the growing level of distrust across the economy.
Distrust of any organisation or industry has skyrocketed since the pandemic began, when there was more trust than distrust. Although trust levels are now nearly comparable to those in early 2020, distrust has grown significantly over the last year.
Now, 66% of Australians distrust any organisation or sector, compared to less than 41% who trust any organisation or sector – a net result of -25% points, down from -17% points a year ago – an 8% drop.
The overt pursuit of profit or commercial interests by businesses, along with greed, is one of the main reasons for the rise in mistrust of sectors or organisations, according to 26% of respondents. This is up from 9% when the pandemic first started, a 17% increase.
When questioned explicitly, 54% of Australians say they distrust corporate Australia more than they used to, while only 10% trust it more.
Just over one-third (36%) of Australians believe corporate Australia’s trustworthiness has remained unchanged.
Commenting on the results, Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine noted:
“Distrust in corporate Australia has soared in recent years driven by anger about high corporate profits – and not helped by a procession of high-profile corporate scandals”.
“As recently as the early days of the pandemic, in the first few months of 2020, there was a higher level of trust than distrust throughout the economy. However, a perception that large companies are enjoying record profits during a cost-of-living crisis has left many Australians distinctly unimpressed with the ‘top end of town’”.
“Record corporate profits are a sign of rising revenue and profit margins and suggest that corporate Australia is one of the key drivers of the cost-of-living crisis by bumping up their prices to grab a larger share of the consumer’s wallet”.
Australians have been gouged left, right and centre at the same time as they have seen their real wages collapse:
The gouging is set to continue, given the announced 10% increase in gas bills that will arrive on 1 August.
Australia’s economy has turned into a corporate oligarchy, and Australians are sick of it.
