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Just over half of Australian adults (54%) felt that they could trust 'most people', according to a this report on social wellbeing from the ABS. People were most likely to trust their doctor (89%) and local police (76%). Older people (75+) were even more likely to trust their doctor (95%). Most people felt that they had a network of people to contact if they needed advice or information, with 72% saying they knew someone in an organisation that they felt comfortable contacting. Nearly all people (96%) had at least weekly contact with family or friends that they didn't live with. People's friends were generally a similar age (66%), similar education (57%), and similar ethnic background (73%). Most people (93%) felt that in a time of crisis they could get support from people living outside their household, including family (80%) and friends (67%).
Among the many, often inter-related, aspects of life that are important to human wellbeing are good health, good family relationships and engagements with wider social networks, good educational opportunities and outcomes, suitable employment, a decent income and freedom from financial stress, a decent and affordable place to live, feeling safe and secure, and having access to suitable transport. There is increasing recognition that many social phenomena are inter-related and social policy is becoming less sectoral as a consequence. In 2006, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) conducted the second General Social Survey (GSS), a multi-dimensional social survey that ranges across all of these aspects of life to enable analysis of the interrelationships in social circumstances and outcomes, including the exploration of multiple advantage and disadvantage.
