FORMER prime minister Kevin Rudd is topping his successor Julia Gillard in the trust stakes as well as the opinion polls.

The Australian Reader's Digest Trust Survey, which comes out today, asked more than 1000 Australians to rate 100 well-known people on how much they believe in them, with number one position being the most trustworthy.

As Ms Gillard reaches her first anniversary as prime minister, she was placed at 97th - five places behind Mr Rudd at 92 and three places behind Liberal politician Malcolm Turnball at 94.

However, Ms Gillard came out one place ahead of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who was ranked 98 out of 100.

Topping the list as the most trusted person was public health specialist and former Australian of the year Fiona Stanley, followed by Australia's first female Nobel Laureate, Elizabeth Blackburn.

"The Top Ten is dominated by people who 'care and protect', while the tail end of the field is full of politicians, businessmen and controversial sports figures," Reader's Digest said today.

Among those in the bottom 10 are media mogul Rupert Murdoch at 90, embattled sports agent Ricky Nixon at 93 and actor Mel Gibson at 96.

Cricketer Shane Warne came in at 100, making him the list's least trusted.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie was the most trusted politician coming in at 35.

"In fact, despite talkback scorn, the leading federal independents rate better than the big names from the major parties,"Reader's Digest said.

Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter came in at 58, 65 and 73 respectively.

Greens leader Bob Brown dropped 15 points from last year to 89th.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange debuted at 82.

As part of the survey, people were also asked to rank their most trusted 45 professions.

"For the eighth year in a row, paramedics take top spot as the most trusted profession in the land, while journalists find themselves struggling behind sex workers, lawyers, bankers and tow-truck drivers," Reader's Digest said.

"In Australia we tend to place our faith in people who save our lives, care for us, protect us and give back to us."

Who do we trust the least?

Taking out the bottom five places are taxi drivers, real estate agents, car salesman, politicians and telemarketers.

The 10 most trusted people in 2011:

1. Public health specialist, Fiona Stanley

2. Australia's first female Nobel Laureate, Elizabeth Blackburn

3. Award-winning immunologist and cancer researcher, Ian Frazer

4. Neurosurgeon, Charlie Teo

5. Victoria Cross recipient, Corporal Mark Donaldson

6. Burns specialist, Fiona Wood

7. CSIRO chairman, Simon McKeon

8. Founder of Youth off the Streets charity, Father Chris Riley

9. High Court Chief Justice, Robert French

10. Science commentator, Karl Kruszelnick

The 10 least trusted people in 2011:

90. News Corporation CEO, Rupert Murdoch

91. Consolidated Press Holdings executive chairman, James Packer

92. Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd

93. Sports agent, Ricky Nixon

94. Former Liberal Party leader, Malcolm Turnbull

95. Deputy Prime Minister, Wayne Swan

96. Actor, Mel Gibson

97. Prime Minister, Julia Gillard

98. Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott

99. Former AFL player for Carlton and Brisbane, Brendan Fevola

100. Cricketer, Shane Warne

Originally published as Rudd more trusted than Gillard - survey