Political parties are the least trusted among Australia's organisations, falling behind trade unions, religious institutions and business groups.
The latest Essential Research survey found fewer than two in five respondents (18 per cent) thought political parties were to be trusted, bettered by unions (25 per cent), religious organisations (26 per cent) and business (28 per cent).
Former Labor foreign minister Gareth Evans acknowledged the standard of public debate had become "shallow and superficial" over the past few years.
"Although I do have some affection for some three-word slogans - "Abbott's Australia - meaner, dumber, hotter" - deserves something," he told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
The challenge for the major centre-left and right parties in Australia and around the world was to win back the traditional levels of support for them that have been eroding, he said.
At the other end of the scale in the Essential poll, almost three-quarters of respondents (71 per cent) trusted the federal police most followed by state police (67 per cent), the High Court (61 per cent) and the ABC (52 per cent).
