A recent survey of community respect for professions and industries in Australia has ranked some Public Service staffers at the very top of the list of ‘respected’ occupations.
Published annually, the Governance Institute of Australia’s Ethics Index measures the community’s expectations and perceptions of ethics across a wide range of sectors and industries.
Chief Executive of the Institute, Steven Burrell said fire and ambulance services were rated as the most ethical occupations within the public sector (90 per cent and 88 per cent ethical score) with Defence and Border Force the most ethical among organisations, (both above 60 per cent).
“In contrast, Local, State and Federal politicians continued to be seen as unethical by half of those surveyed, the lowest among the occupations,” Mr Burrell said.
He said the net ethics score of Federal politicians further decreased compared to last year (from minus 29 per cent to minus 38 per cent).
“Similarly, Federal and State Parliaments also scored the lowest among the organisations.”
He said the ratings of Parliaments and politicians continued to be the greatest contributors in pulling down the Ethics Index score for the sector.
“Compared to 2017, Local Council Public Servants also saw a decrease in net score (from 10 to 1),” Mr Burrell said.
In other areas, the most ethical organisations were primary schools (71), medical charities (68), and pathology services (68), which contrasted with pay day lenders (minus 54) and life insurance companies (minus 26).
This is the third year running that the Ethics Index has been published and the full index can be accessed on the Institute’s website at this PS News link.
