Warning bells sound for business leaders: Edelman Australia trust report

The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Australia Report sounds a warning for directors about discontent, as universal grievances fuel distrust of institutions.

More than 60 per cent of Australians feel moderate to high levels of grievance, according to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Australia Report.

Only 17 per cent of those surveyed in this year’s report believe future generations will be better off and distrust and grievances are at record levels for Australians across our key institutions of government, business, NGOs and media, says the report.

Almost three quarters (72 per cent) believe businesses don’t pay their fair share of taxes and 60 per cent believe the selfishness of the wealthy is the cause of many of the problems being faced by society.

“Business and government are seen as probably two institutions with the greatest ability to influence change but also face the greatest challenge to their credibility when grievance is high,” says Edelman Australia CEO Tom Robinson.

Robinson says the call to action for businesses is clear. “Trust is good for business. There’s an expectation — certainly coming through from Australia — that boards and business shouldn’t shy away from expectations around affordability, climate change, addressing job skills for the future through retraining, and putting community engagement front and centre on all of this.

“Ultimately, what this will come down to is the need for business to step up, the need to partner across institutions, particularly government, and to take a step back and listen.”

He says that balance of creating an environment of innovation and managing its impact through implementation is always tricky. “When people have a voice, they feel they are contributing, that they are being listened to and have a greater sense of control.”

4 ways to restore trust

He proposes four ways directors can try to restore trust and build optimism:

• Understand the economic realities of your stakeholders, champion shared interests and create opportunities for optimism.
• Understand where you have obligations, act on behalf of your stakeholders and advocate for your organisation.
• To dissipate grievance and increase optimism, prioritise and rebuild trust across your organisation and local communities.
• Business, government, media and NGOs must work together to address the root causes of grievance and enable trust, growth and prosperity. Invest in local communities, quality information and job skills.

Directors are responsible

As directors, “it’s our responsibility to ensure our organisations match the new economic realities,” says non-executive director and Screen Australia audit and risk committee chair Megan Brownlow GAICD.

Discontent is now more widely spread across society and as a consequence, the report found that grievance is no longer the domain of isolated pockets of the community.

A lack of optimism in the future and our leaders has led to a “zero-sum mindset” — where one person’s gain is perceived to be at the expense of another.

“It’s not something that is now felt among the confines of a small group or subset within our society who feel like they’ve been left behind — almost everyone is feeling this right now, this sense of grievance,” says Robinson. “That is the big finding this year.

“When it comes to how that translates to boards and corporate Australia, we come back to this sense of grievance and economic prosperity. It doesn’t just affect those lower socio-economic households. We’ve identified that everyone feels it and high grievance does carry a trust penalty across all stakeholders. It’s universal.”

Anger rises

Brownlow says the decline in trust in media, now at 37 per cent, is alarming. “This is corrosive to our democracy. It results from an impoverished and fractured media environment and the blurring of commentary and news.”

In the report, NGOs were more highly rated for their role to fight divisiveness and repair the social fabric.

“We’re now at this boiling point,” says Robinson. “Last year’s report highlighted Australians are lacking a voice and sense of control as change happens around them. These feelings are now manifesting into action, which runs counter to our perceived national values and beliefs. Our social contract and cohesion is at risk.”

In Australia, only business and NGOs are seen as competent and ethical. However, those with higher levels of grievance believe business is not doing enough to address affordability, climate change, misinformation, retraining and discrimination.