Trust often gets described as something intangible a feeling, a sense of safety, a quiet confidence. But in practice, trust is built through behaviour. It’s created through the choices we make in how we speak, how we listen, how we show up, and how we follow through. It’s not abstract. It’s lived.
The Trust + Flows research shows that people trust people not institutions. Whether it’s a community group, a local business, a school, or a service provider, what matters is the behaviour of the humans representing it. Trust grows when actions match words, when communication is open and respectful, and when people feel heard rather than managed.
Some of the most powerful trust-building behaviours are deceptively simple:
• Doing what you say you’ll do
• Being honest about limitations instead of hiding them
• Showing curiosity instead of judgement
• Respecting people’s time, culture, and lived experience
• Sharing information instead of holding it tightly
These behaviours signal reliability, integrity, and respect three pillars of any trusted relationship.
Here in Bundaberg, these behaviours can be seen across the community every day. You can see trust at work when a local sporting club welcomes new members and takes time to explain how things run. You see it when neighbourhood groups rally around a family doing it tough, without being asked. You see it in the way café owners remember names, how volunteers keep turning up, and how local schools partner with families to understand what students really need.
These moments aren’t small. They’re the foundation of community connection the everyday evidence that people care, that they listen, and that they follow through. This is the same spirit Welcome to Bundaberg champions in its work: helping new residents feel at home, building bridges between local groups, and celebrating the behaviours that create a sense of belonging.
Of course, trust can erode just as quickly. Broken promises, inconsistent communication, dismissiveness, and decisions made without transparency create cracks that are hard to repair. People remember when they feel ignored just as deeply as when they feel respected.
Ultimately, trust is built in daily choices. In honesty. In follow-through. In kindness. In respect. These are the behaviours that create strong communities and they’re the behaviours that keep them strong.
Project: Do Governments Trust Communities? The Trust Flows Project Research Report
Research Stream: Building Resilience to Social Harms
Authors: Mark Duckworth, Christine Horn, Michele Grossman
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56311/FZLZ2190
Duckworth, Mark, Christine Horn, Michele Grossman, (2024) Do Governments Trust Communities? The Trust Flows Project Research Report. Melbourne: Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies.
