Received

State politicians are less trustworthy than their federal counterparts - and real estate agents, according to the latest Ethics Index.

Top of the list on trusted occupations are nurses, followed by firies and ambos.

Compiled by the Governance Institute of Australia, the annual survey reveals an overall score of 42, down from 45 last year and slumping from a five-year high of 52 in 2020.

Social media giant TikTok, deep in the negative at minus 32, was seen as the least ethical organisation, overtaking payday lenders (-30) and Facebook (-28).

The worst sectors were media (-15), large corporations (-3) and resources companies (-1).

"We are now seeing a distinct downward trend in trust and ethics," institute head Megan Motto said on Thursday.

There's some bad news for campaigners in Victoria ahead of this month's state election and NSW, where voters go to the polls in March.

State politics was the least ethical occupation, falling to last place with a net score of -22 (down from -10 in 2021 and 2 in 2020).

Ms Motto said the strong sense that "we're all in it together" saw trust soar at the start of the pandemic.

Australians put their trust in governments and the medical profession and were largely rewarded.

"But we have seen an unravelling since," she said.

"It seems we are a little less trusting, more cynical and more divided."

Corruption, tax avoidance and dodgy advertising were top concerns about business.

Federal government and big corporations, not individuals, were seen as having the highest ethical obligation to respond to climate change, the survey conducted by Ipsos found.

Going on holiday with COVID-19 also poses an ethical dilemma for many Australians.

The survey found more than three-quarters (78 per cent) would take a test if symptoms appeared in the weeks before an interstate holiday.

And while ethics appear to be on the slide, expectations of good behaviour have grown.

The ethics expectation deficit - the gap between expectations of how ethical something should be and what occurs - widened this year to -37 (-28 in 2021).

"The wider the gap, the bigger the indication that society is not performing the way we want it to," Ms Motto said.

The coming year's top three ethical challenges are fixing aged care, more local manufacturing to reduce dependence on broken supply chains and action on climate and the environment.

© AAP 2022

Novak Djokovic has declared his plans to enjoy "a great Australian summer" after being granted a visa to return to the country which will enable him to shoot for more grand slam glory in Melbourne.

The Serbian all-time tennis great revealed on Wednesday that he was "very happy" to receive the news that would allow him to go for a record-extending 10th Australian Open title.

The 35-year-old had been barred from Australia until 2025 but revealed his delight that the decision has been reversed.

"I was very happy to receive the news yesterday," said Djokovic, who'd been at the centre of major international drama on the eve of this year's event when he was held in a detention centre for attempting to enter the country while not vaccinated before being deported amid a legal battle.

But speaking in Turin after defeating Andrey Rublev at the ATP Finals, the Serbian said: "It's a relief, obviously knowing what I and people closest to me in my life have been through this year with what happened in Australia and post-Australia obviously.

"I could not receive better news for sure - during this tournament as well. Australian Open has been my most successful grand slams. I made some of the best memories there.

"Of course, I want to go back there, I want to play tennis, do what I do best, hopefully have a great Australian summer.

"I'm always thankful to go through experiences, no matter what the experiences are. I try to be optimistic and positive in life.

"I look forward to starting the new year in Australia, and we'll see how the next year goes."

The news came before Djokovic produced one of his performances of the year to outplay Rublev 6-4 6-1 to qualify for the semi-finals of the season-ending event - and he reckoned it may have helped his game out on court.

"Did it affect my game today? I would like to believe it did. Why not? I don't think it did affect me too much because I'm familiar with what I need to do in order to prepare myself for every match," he said.

"Of course, knowing that I have clarity now, what I do in the off-season, starting the season in Australia, also of course it did relieve some of the pressure me and my team felt. Just giving that clarity makes it great for us."

The return of Djokovic had looked on the cards ever since July when Australia scrapped its rule requiring visitors from overseas to declare their COVID vaccination status.

And the Serb himself had commented earlier in the week that he had received positive signs about the overturning of the ban and a potential return.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley had said Djokovic would be welcome back if he could get a visa, but that Tennis Australia couldn't lobby on his behalf.

After missing the Australian Open and US Open over his COVID-19 stance, the still-unvaccinated Djokovic will now be able to shoot for Rafael Nadal's Melbourne crown while also attempting to equal the Spaniard's men's record of 22 grand slam crowns.

© AAP 2022

US President Joe Biden has told allies that a missile that killed two people in Poland was a Ukrainian air defence missile, a NATO source says.

Earlier, Biden said publicly that the missile was unlikely to have been fired from Russia.

If confirmed, that would likely alleviate concern that the first deadly incident in a NATO country since the war in Ukraine began might lead to escalation.

NATO ambassadors were due to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss Tuesday's explosion at a grain dryer in eastern Poland near the Ukrainian border, which occurred while Russia was firing scores of missiles at cities across Ukraine.

Kyiv says it shot down most of the incoming Russian missiles with its own air defence missiles. Ukraine's Volyn region, just across the border from Poland, was one of the many Ukraine says was targeted by Russia's attacks.

The Russian Defence Ministry said none of its missiles struck closer than 35km from the Polish border, and that photos of the wreckage showed elements of a Ukrainian S-300 air defence missile.

Asked whether it was too early to say if the missile was fired from Russia, Biden said: "There is preliminary information that contests that. I don't want to say that until we completely investigate it, but it is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we'll see."

The United States and NATO countries would fully investigate before acting, Biden said in Indonesia after meeting other Western leaders on the sidelines of a summit of the G20 big economies.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that some countries had made "baseless statements" about the incident, but that Washington had been comparatively restrained. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia had nothing to do with the incident, which he said had been caused by an S-300 air defence system.

The Polish Foreign Ministry said the rocket fell on Przewodow, a village about 6km from the Ukrainian border.

Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters it was "most likely a Russian-made missile", but that there was no concrete evidence of who fired it. Both Russia's long-range missiles and air defence missiles used by Ukraine use Soviet designs.

A resident who declined to be identified said the two victims were men who were near the weighing area of a grain facility.

Some Western leaders said that whoever fired the missile, Russia was ultimately responsible.

"They stressed that, whatever the outcome of that investigation, Putin's invasion of Ukraine is squarely to blame for the ongoing violence," British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office said after a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

© AP 2022