IT WOULD seem our politicians are clawing their way up the ladder when it comes to our most trusted professions – at least that’s according to the latest Roy Morgan research, and that has to be good news for them in this tightest of tight federal election years.
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According to the survey, 17 per cent of Australians think our federal politicians act ethically and honestly.
That’s an increase of 4 per cent on last year, and their best result since 2009 – at about the time of the Rudd stimulus payments (so probably we can take that with a grain of salt).
Still, if you’re a pollie looking to the upcoming election, you’d have to take heart in that performance at least. Knowing, though, there’s a long road ahead – and a few long weeks to make it up.
Not surprisingly, our health professionals took the top spots.
Nurses were named top of the heap for the 22nd year in a row. And while they rated 92 per cent – unchanged from 2015 – you won’t get any argument from 100 per cent of the population that they do a fantastic job in often trying circumstances.
Pharmacists and doctors retained equal second spot, school teachers were up there in fifth, our police in seventh, and High Court judges in eighth.
Dentists are taking a bigger bite of the action – improving their ranking – and engineers have also gained a little, moving into fourth position on the ladder.
Religion’s taken a hit, though, this time around, with ministers of religion dropping 4 per cent in the most trusted stakes, to just 35 per cent.
And just in case you were wondering, newspaper journalists are in there too – ranked at number 22 – just above TV reporters – but well above car salesmen, who for 30 years have languished at the bottom of the list, and advertising people.
Sorry guys, it’s nothing personal.
