Bunnings remains Australia’s most trusted brand for the 12 months to June 2026, according to Roy Morgan’s Trust & Distrust June 2026 Quarterly Update, marking its eleventh consecutive quarterly win in a streak stretching back nearly three years to late 2023.
While Optus holds the title of most distrusted brand for a second straight quarter, rising skepticism around AI has pushed two major tech players into the top 30 most distrusted brands nationwide: OpenAI (including ChatGPT) and AI defence firm Palantir.
The top three positions stay locked in for a tenth consecutive quarter (a run starting in the 12 months to March 2024), with discount supermarket Aldi holding second spot and discount department store Kmart sitting in third.
The rest of the top five remains unchanged for a third straight quarter, with Commonwealth Bank holding fourth place just ahead of tech giant Apple in fifth.
Notable Movers in the Top 20
- Toyota: Up two spots to 6th
- NRMA: Up two spots to 12th
- ING: Up four spots to 15th
- Officeworks: Up two spots to 16th
- Big W: Down two spots to 8th
- Target: Down two spots to 14th
- NAB: Down one spot to 17th
- Bendigo Bank: Down three spots to 18th
- IGA: Down two spots to 19th
Further down the rankings, health insurer Bupa surged 43 places to 61st, GIO climbed 25 spots to 50th, and food manufacturer Bega jumped 22 positions to break into the top 100 at 79th. These gains were primarily driven by a drop in distrust rather than a rise in trust.
Who we don’t trust
Optus has retained the unwanted title of Australia’s most distrusted brand for a second straight quarter in the 12 months to June 2026.
The rest of the top five most distrusted brands remain unchanged, with social media giant Facebook/Meta in second, discount online retailer Temu in third, ahead of supermarket heavyweights Woolworths and Coles in fourth and fifth spots.
Key Drops and AI Impact
- OpenAI (incl. ChatGPT): Dropped three places to become the 16th most distrusted brand—down 10 positions over the last two quarters—driven by privacy fears and data risks.
- Palantir: Fell 15 spots to 30th most distrusted. A notable drop given most Australians hadn’t heard of the firm a year ago, proving distrust travels digitally and virally without needing brand familiarity.
- Google: Continued its long slide, slipping one spot to 14th most distrusted as it embeds its Gemini AI tools.
- X (formerly Twitter): Dropped one place to 9th most distrusted as it aggressively rolls out its Grok AI feature.
Mining, Fuel, and Telcos
- Hancock Prospecting: Entered the top 20 most distrusted for the first time, sliding four places to 20th amid rising negative sentiment towards the company and its boss, Gina Rinehart.
- BP & Shell: Copped growing distrust from fuel-price scepticism as motorists watched petrol prices swing by suburb during Middle East conflict. BP dropped two places to 18th, while Shell fell three spots to 19th. Outside the top 20, Caltex / Ampol took the same hit, tumbling nine places to 56th.
- Telstra: Dropped two spots to 6th most distrusted—even before its major outage in early July.
- Shein: Slid one spot to 8th most distrusted.
- Vodafone: Fell 11 places to 38th after a massive network outage hit customers in June.
Brands Making Ground
A few distrusted brands managed to lift their standings: electric car maker Tesla improved one spot to 7th, Qantas clawed back three places to 10th, and TikTok moved up one spot to 15th most distrusted.
Australia’s brand trust landscape remains sharply divided. Reliable retail favourites like Bunnings, Aldi, and Kmart continue to anchor consumer trust through everyday reliability. On the flip side, ongoing service outages, petrol price volatility, and rapid artificial intelligence integration are fueling growing public skepticism, pushing telcos, fuel retailers, and major AI firms deeper into the country’s most distrusted rankings.