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Following the election of the Rudd Government in November 2007, the biggest rise in the rating of all 29 professions in the annual Roy Morgan Image of Profession survey is Federal Members of Parliament with 23% (up 7% in a year and 16% from 1998) of Australians aged 14 and over now having a “high” or “very high” opinion of their standard of ethics and honesty, a special telephone Morgan Poll finds. Although the latest result remains much lower than obtained for many professions it is 3% higher than the 20% obtained in 2004 after the Howard Government was re-elected in October 2004.

In addition, State Members of Parliament are also looked upon more favourably this year with 20% of Australians now rating them “high” or “very high” in terms of honesty and ethics, up 4% since last year and 13% from 1998.

Victorians view their State Politicians most positively with a quarter (25%) rating them “high” or “very high” in terms of honesty and ethics, while Tasmanians (9%) are the most scathing, followed by Queenslanders (16%).

The Nursing profession (89%, down 2%) remains the most ethical and honest profession according to Australians — as it has been every year since being included on the survey in 1994.  Pharmacists (86%, up 1%) and Doctors (79%, down 2%) have been consistently named in second and third place, with School Teachers (78%, unchanged) and Engineers (72%, up 1%) rounding out the top five.

Dentists (70%, up 1%) remained in sixth position, followed by State Supreme Court Judges (67%, down 1%), University Lecturers (67%, unchanged, and up 17% from 1996) and High Court Judges (66%, down 1%).

Police (66%, up 1% from last year and 18% from when the survey was first conducted in 1979) made up the top ten professions for perceived high levels of ethics and honesty.

Car Salesmen (4%, unchanged) were once again the lowest ranked profession for honesty and ethics, as they have been since the survey began in 1979.  Joining them at the foot of the table once again were Advertising People (9%, unchanged) and Estate Agents (10%, up 1%).

Journalists are looked upon slightly more favourably this year with Television Reporters / Journalists (16%, up 3%) and Newspaper Journalists (14%, up 2%) in 24th and 26th place respectively.  Talk-back Radio Announcers recorded a result of 18% (up 1%).

Twenty-one per cent (up 3%) view Business Executives as having “high” or “very high” according to the Roy Morgan survey of professional ethics and honesty.  There was a similar rise in the image of Directors of Public Companies (22%, up 1%).

Public Opinion Pollsters are in equal 15th position with 29%.

Gary Morgan says:

“Once again the medical professions top the list of the annual Roy Morgan Image of Professions survey despite Nurses (89%) and Doctors (79%) both dropping slightly.

“Federal Politicians (up 7%), Accountants (up 6%), State Politicians and Insurance Brokers (both up 4%) experienced the biggest increase in their rating, while none of the 29 professions surveyed fell more than 2%.

 “While there are large differences in the image of the different professions surveyed there are some big differences when images of professions are looked at State-by-State.  For example, State Politicians have the best image in Victoria (25%) and the worst image in Tasmania, where they record a very low 9%.”

Respondents were asked: “As I say different occupations, could you please say — from what you know or have heard — which rating best describes how you, yourself, would rate or score people in various occupations for honesty and ethical standards: very high, high, average, low, very low?”

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

	Occupation	‘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	‘07	‘08	Dif.
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
1	Nurses	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	86	86	87	86	88	89	88	90	90	94	90	89	91	89	-2
2	Pharmacists	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	76	76	72	76	79	78	78	79	80	80	80	86	83	83	89	87	86	84	85	86	+1
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	81	79	-2
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	78	78	0
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	71	72	+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	69	70	+1
7	State Supreme Court Judges	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	61	61	64	66	72	65	65	68	67	-1
8	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	67	67	0
9	High Court Judges	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	61	60	63	65	71	63	64	67	66	-1
10	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	65	66	+1
11	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	48	54	+6
12	Ministers of Religion	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	59	55	56	58	56	54	48	48	53	52	51	50	-1
13	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	36	35	-1
14	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	33	33	0
15	Public servants	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	30	29	-1
16	Public opinion pollsters	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	34	33	29	30	35	35	27	29	38	31	31	27	29	+2
17	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	16	23	+7
18	Directors of public companies	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	20	18	20	20	17	18	17	20	18	17	16	17	23	18	21	22	+1
19	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	18	21	+3
20	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	16	20	+4
21	Talk-back radio announcers	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	18	14	17	17	21	17	19	17	18	+1
22	Stock brokers	*	*	*	*	*	19	20	18	18	15	14	15	15	15	13	16	15	15	19	16	18	14	17	19	14	17	18	+1
23	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	16	17	+1
24	TV reporters	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	16	17	15	14	15	16	13	12	11	12	14	12	18	18	17	19	17	13	16	+3
25	Insurance brokers	*	*	*	*	*	13	15	13	13	12	10	12	10	11	10	9	12	11	14	11	14	10	15	15	13	11	15	+4
26	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	12	14	+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	9	10	+1
28	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	9	9	0
29	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	4	4	0

* Not included in survey

These are the main findings of a Roy Morgan telephone survey conducted on the nights of March 26/27 and April 2/3, 2008, with 1,382 Australian men and women aged 14 and over.

For further information:

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

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

Margin of Error

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. The following table gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. The figures are approximate and for general guidance only, and assume a simple random sample. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample Size	Percentage Estimate
	40%-60%	25% or 75%	10% or 90%	5% or 95%
1,000	±3.2	±2.7	±1.9	±1.4
1,500	±2.6	±2.2	±1.5	±1.1
2,000	±2.2	±1.9	±1.3	±1

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