By Patrick Avenell
Gerry Harvey has been named Australia’s 56th most trusted individual, one spot below controversial swimmer Stephanie Rice and one spot above former Gold Logie winner Karl Stefanovic. This list is compiled by Reader’s Digest, based on votes from Reader’s Digest readers.
The top three spots on the list were all captured by doctors: Charlie Teo, Fiona Wood and Ian Frazer. Other business-people on the list include Dick Smith (7), Frank Lowy (64), Andrew Forrest (64), James Packer (72), Alan Joyce (76) and Clive Palmer (82).
The inclusion of a number of largely untrustworthy people at the bottom of this list, such as deposed prime minister Julia Gillard, accused politicians Peter Slipper and Craig Thomson, serial bad-boy Matthew Newton and knife-in-back merchant Bill Shorten, leads to the conclusion that rather than this be an open poll of any Australian, it is simply a ranking of 100 famous Australians, regardless of their true trustworthiness.
Current.com.au has not been able to contact Reader’s Digest to confirm.
Meanwhile, the same poll has named Bunnings as Australia’s most trusted retail brand. Bunnings MD John Gillam took the unusual step of thanking the media for this award:
“I’d like to personally acknowledge the wonderful relationship we have with you, our media contacts, and thank you for your support of our products and activities.”
Lastly, Reader’s Digest has ranked shop assistants the 31st most trusted profession, slightly below postal workers (21), alternative health practitioners (27) and accountants (30), but well ahead of journalists (43). Firefighters, paramedics and rescue volunteers took out the top three spots.