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Australian public services ꟷ trust and satisfaction

The Trust in Australian public services: 2025 Annual Report was released by the Australian Government in October 2025. The report captures community feedback from more than 1,000 people surveyed each month on trust and satisfaction with Australian public services in the period July 2024 to June 2025.

Measuring trust and satisfaction in public services is important. It allows the public to have a voice in evaluating the effectiveness of services, and it helps prioritise areas most in need of improvement, as highlighted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 2025 report Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions in Australia.

Trust increased significantly in 2024 ꟷ 25, by 4 percentage points, the first time it has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase matches the peak level (62%) observed in 2020 ꟷ 21 (Figure 10).

Figure 10: Trust in Australian public services (2018ꟷ19 to 2024ꟷ25)

Line chart comparing trust & distrust in Australian public services over the last 7 years. The X-axis shows the years from 2018-19 to 2024-25, the Y-axis shows survey results as a percentage from 0 to 70. The level of trust in Australian public services is shown as: 55% 2018-19; 56% 2019-20; 62% 2020-21; 58% 2021-22; 58% 2022-23; 58% 2023-24; 62% 2024-25. The level of distrust in Australian public services is shown as: 14% 2018-19; 14% 2019-20; 11% 2020-21; 13% 2021-22; 13% 2022-23; 13% 2023-24; 12% 2024-25

Source: Survey of Trust in Australian public services

While the overall level of trust in Australian public services has increased, gaps between groups remain. This includes:

  • men (66%) display greater trust in public services than women (59%)
  • trust is higher for those aged 18 to 34 years (70%) than those aged 35 to 64 (59%) and 65 and over (60%)
  • those living in metro areas are more trusting than people who live in regional areas, at 65% and 56% respectively.

When asked why their trust had increased, respondents most often talked about:

  • reduced wait times
  • improvements in digital services, service quality and staff helpfulness
  • greater transparency and communication.

General satisfaction with services lifted to 69% in 2024 ꟷ 25, which is one percentage point higher than in 2023 ꟷ 24 (Figure 11).

Figure 11: Satisfaction with Australian public services (2018ꟷ19 to 2024ꟷ25)

Line chart comparing levels of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with Australian public services over the last 6 years. X-axis shows the years from 2018-19 to 2024-25, Y-axis shows survey results as a % from 0 to 80. 65% 2018-19; 67% 2019-20; 72% 2020-21; 69% 2021-22; 68% 2022-23; 68% 2023-24; 69% 2024-2). The level of dissatisfaction in Aust public services is shown as: 13% 2018-19; 11% 2019-20; 9% 2020-21; 10% 2021-22; 10% 2022-23; 10% 23-24; 9% 24-25.

Source: Survey of Trust in Australian public services

The OECD Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions in Australia expands on previous OECD survey findings and provides deeper analysis. The annual report identifies opportunities where Australian public institutions could improve on key drivers of trust: reliability, responsiveness, integrity, openness, and fairness.

Key findings include:

  • Trust in the federal government in Australia was 46% in 2023, exceeding the OECD average of 39% and ranking ninth out of the 30 countries surveyed.
  • Satisfaction with administrative services and perceptions of innovation have a stronger influence on trust in the federal government and parliament in Australia than in other OECD countries.
  • Trust in the federal government and parliament in Australia is closely tied to perceptions of fairness and integrity, while local government trust is driven to a larger extent by openness.
  • Trust in the Australian Public Service is strongly linked to perceptions that it considers long-term societal interests and provides honest advice.

Find out more

Australian Public Service Commission (2025) Trust in Australian public services 2025 Annual Report, APSC website, accessed 23 October 2025.

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Acknowledgement of Country

The APSC acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.