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Only 15% of Australians, down 8% in a year, view Business Executives as having high or very high standards of ethics and honesty according to the 2005 annual Roy Morgan Survey of professional ethics and honesty. In addition there was a significant fall in the image of Directors of Public Companies, down 5% to 18%.

State Members of Parliament (down 6% to 13%) and Federal Members of Parliament (down 5% to 15%) also fell considerably from 2004.

Gary Morgan Says:

“It is not surprising the image of Business Executives and Directors has fallen during 2005 - a large number have appeared in court for unethical and disgraceful behaviour and controversy rages in the media over the absurd levels of remuneration packages of some Business Executives and Directors.

“It is also unsurprising that there has been a drop in the image of Politicians (both State and Federal), due to concern over the sale and direction of Telstra, the release of the Latham Diaries and the negative media coverage surrounding the Federal Government’s proposed Industrial Relations reforms. In addition there has also been significant adverse publicity surrounding a number of State Politicians and their Departments.”

The Nursing profession (down 1% to 89%) was still seen as the most ethical and honest profession, as it has been every year since being included on the survey in 1994. Pharmacists (down 2% to 84%) and Doctors (down 1% to 79%) have been consistently named in second and third place, with School Teachers (down 3 % to 74%), Engineers (down 1% to 68%) and Dentists (down 4% to 67%) also regularly rating highly.

Police (up 1% to 65%), State Supreme Court Judges (unchanged on 65%), High Court Judges (up 1% to 64% and University Lecturers (down 2% to 64%) made up the top ten professions for perceived high levels of ethics and honesty in 2005.

Talk-back Radio Announcers and Union Leaders , saw a small increase in 2005, both up 2% to 19%.

Public Opinion Pollsters remained in the ‘middle of the field’ (unchanged on 31%).

Car Salesmen (down 1% to 3%) were once again the lowest ranked profession for honesty and ethics, as they have been since the survey began in 1976. Joining them at the foot of the table were Estate Agents (unchanged on 10%), Advertising People (down 2% to 10%) and Newspaper Journalists (down 1% to 11%).

These are the main findings of an Australia-wide survey of professional ethics and honesty conducted on November 17/18, 2005 for which 640 people aged 14 and over were interviewed by telephone.  

For further information:

Gary Morgan:   Office + 61 3 9224 5213   Mobile +61 411 129 094 Home + 61 3 9419 3242

Michele Levine :   Office + 61 3 9224 5215   Mobile +61 411 129 093 Home + 61 3 9817 3066

"Very high" or "High" ratings for Ethics and Honesty:

	"Very high" or "High" ratings for Ethics and Honesty:										All Australians
	Occupations	'79	'81	'83	'84	'85	'86	'87	'88	'89	'90	'91	'92	'93	'94	'95	'96	'97	'98	'99	'00	'01	'02	'03	'04	'05	Dif.
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
1	Nurses	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	86	86	87	86	88	89	88	90	90	94	90	89	-1
2	Pharmacists	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	76	76	72	76	79	78	78	79	80	80	80	86	83	83	89	87	86	84	-2
3	Doctors	62	63	64	64	64	63	65	67	62	70	69	69	65	66	69	72	66	69	74	71	75	80	80	80	79	-1
4	School teachers	54	55	55	55	54	57	56	55	57	61	59	62	61	65	69	68	64	71	71	70	74	79	79	77	74	-3
5	Engineers	53	56	53	53	53	56	56	56	56	55	57	58	56	57	59	56	54	57	57	59	64	67	69	69	68	-1
6	Dentists	61	62	61	62	65	63	65	68	65	62	64	66	62	60	65	65	60	61	65	64	65	67	71	71	67	-4
7	Police	48	56	53	53	53	56	56	53	53	54	54	53	54	56	59	55	55	60	62	62	58	65	64	64	65	1
8	State Supreme Court Judges	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	61	61	64	66	72	65	65	0
9	High Court Judges	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	61	60	63	65	71	63	64	1
10	University lecturers	51	51	52	51	51	51	51	53	52	53	56	55	53	54	52	50	52	57	56	54	64	66	64	66	64	-2
11	Ministers of Religion	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	59	55	56	58	56	54	48	48	53	52	-1
12	Accountants	*	51	47	48	47	50	50	47	46	47	46	47	46	42	45	46	43	43	49	45	51	45	50	51	50	-1
13	Bank managers	66	61	62	61	58	60	58	54	50	49	40	44	41	37	39	37	32	36	33	26	30	29	35	35	35	0
14	Lawyers	41	38	41	44	41	39	41	41	41	37	38	34	32	30	32	29	29	26	34	29	32	30	31	33	32	-1
15	Public opinion pollsters	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	34	33	29	30	35	35	27	29	38	31	31	0
16	Talk-back radio announcers	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	18	14	17	17	21	17	19	2
17	Union leaders	8	8	8	6	6	5	7	7	9	8	7	8	9	9	10	9	12	13	11	12	14	11	15	17	19	2
18	Directors of public companies	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	20	18	20	20	17	18	17	20	18	17	16	17	23	18	-5
29	TV reporters	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	16	17	15	14	15	16	13	12	11	12	14	12	18	18	17	19	17	-2
20	Business executives	22	22	18	22	19	23	24	21	20	19	15	17	16	17	17	17	16	18	22	17	19	17	19	23	15	-8
21	Federal MPs	16	15	19	19	13	16	13	14	15	13	10	10	11	10	9	13	9	7	13	11	16	16	17	20	15	-5
22	Stock brokers	*	*	*	*	*	19	20	18	18	15	14	15	15	15	13	16	15	15	19	16	18	14	17	19	14	-5
23	Insurance brokers	*	*	*	*	*	13	15	13	13	12	10	12	10	11	10	9	12	11	14	11	14	10	15	15	13	-2
24	State MPs	20	16	20	17	14	17	12	14	15	11	10	10	11	10	12	12	9	7	13	12	14	17	17	19	13	-6
25	Newspaper journalists	14	13	11	11	11	12	11	11	9	10	8	7	8	8	8	7	7	9	9	7	13	9	12	12	11	-1
26	Advertising people	11	9	9	9	8	11	11	8	9	7	8	9	9	8	10	7	8	7	9	10	8	10	13	12	10	-2
27	Estate agents	*	*	11	9	10	10	11	11	11	11	9	9	10	9	11	10	10	8	11	10	8	8	11	10	10	0
28	Car salesmen	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	3	3	2	3	3	3	3	2	3	3	2	3	5	4	3	-1

*Not included in poll             

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