15 February 2011

Canberra, Australia's scum capital.

| wellyclan
Join the conversation
43

I have lived in Canberra for 2 years. I will be glad to see the back of this awful place! I thought when I moved here I would be moving to a small friendly city, where the family was safe and we could make a new life and take advantage of all the just opportunities Canberra seemed to offer. How wrong I was!

As of today my car has been broken into 3 times. My house robbed and ransacked. Then 2 x 16 yr old girls tried to poison my little girl at the local McDonalds (they put tablets down on top of real lollies to try to get the the kids to eat them in the playground.) I must say the police here have been very good, particularly with the McDonalds incident.

Although when you’re told there is nothing they can do about your car being robbed again and no result from the fingerprints taken when the house was burgled, things can get a bit frustrating.

If nothing is done to catch these thieves then whats to stop them from continuing on with their bad behaviour?

When my house was robbed the police officer told me that Canberra has the highest home robberies in Australia.

Now I am not suprised! The scumbag who broke into my car left the drivers door wide open, it was opened onto the street, cars would have to have swerved to avoid it.

Not one of my neighbours driving past bothered to knock on my door and let me know it was like that. I find that amazing. Dont people look out for each other in small citys? What would you do?

My family and I will be leaving this town in 5 weeks. I am not sad to go.

Join the conversation

43
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

I doubt the location has anything to do with just awful bad luck. I have nothing bad to say about Canberra despite experiencing some of the most awful things one can endure in life ( I am assuming it could never get worse than it was there) It was just bad luck and I have not let it taint my other nicer times in the Capital. Statistically Canberra is extraordinarily safe, clean and well resourced. Socially its rich in services and schools, is on close proximity to the beach, Sydney and the Snowy Mountains!! I have a hurtful memory of my last years there and feel the need for recourse also. But I cannot hold Canberra or its citizens responsible. It is pointless.

8 years ago I lived in a townhouse complex in Manuka and the crime was a shocker.

The local ruffians managed to figure out the how to get through the security gate of the underground carpark. Every Saturday night, the underground carpark lit up like a disco as the alarms went off. Most of my neighours (mostly DCs driving BMWs or Mercs) were hit. Lucky for me, my battered little Corolla was left unscratched on every occasion (ruffians feeling pity?).

One Saturday arvo, 2 of the ruffians smashed my flatmate’s car parked in the visitors spot. My neighbour (deadset legend) spotted the crims and tried to chase them down Canberra Ave with a golf club. The ruffians managed to flee to the safety of their housing commission and my neighbour had a strong enough instinct for self-preservation to not follow them in. Home court advantage, after all…

Indeed it is. Even my Western Sydney mates reckon Canberra has a very ‘pure form of bogan’.

matt31221 said :

Captain RAAF said :

matt31221 said :

Someone like Capt.RAAF will come out of his house holding a 22 cal where the thief is braking into the bathroom window and shoot the thief in the buttocks.

22 Cal are for ladieboys and old people, Captain RAAF’s calibre of choice is .300 Winchester Magnum.

Get that up ya while crawling through my bathroom window and they’ll be washing you off the walls with a garden hose!

Wow just saw my amateur spelling mistake – “thief is braking into”, should be “thief is breaking into”. Man I should have been paying more attention at school

Capt Raaf why does that not surprise me that you would think 22. is for girls LOL!! But 300 winnie mag? I would of thought your cal of choice would be 338. Lapua mag!

But seriously, it goes without saying that one should NEVER underestimate a 22 rimfire in the hands of a competent shooter.

Bah, my weapon of choice is a compound bow, 8lb draw, carbon arrow shafts and a four-point broadhead. Shoot them in the ar$e with that and they’ll now about it.

luther_bendross said :

axe fights in the street

Seriously?

barking toad4:02 pm 16 Feb 11

Sorry for your experience welly – as Tone says, shit happens

hope you’re not moving to west sydney – or broadmeadows down south

luther_bendross3:27 pm 16 Feb 11

Very sad to hear what you’ve had to endure, but must say I’m not surprised. I quite like Canberra, but there does seem to be an abnormally large proportion of what I like to call bogan crime here: vehicle thefts, break and enters, loud music, all that sort of shit. We had a terrible time in Ainslie, broken into twice, the car once, meth-heads getting confused and asking Mrs Bendross for drugs, axe fights in the street, uncontrolled dogs constantly, daily (no exaggeration) police patrols for 18months.. the list goes on. So we got the hell out of Dodge and moved to the percieved Mecca for bogans: Tuggeranong. Since moving we have not had any dramas. There’s definitely something strange in the water here.

spiderinsider said :

FedUpWithBogans said :

No – none of them are aboriginal, but yes – it is a Government house.

Not sure why they would be Aboriginal, or why their race is relevant at all. No one group of people has a monopoly on antisocial behaviour, that’s for sure.

To the OP, that does sound like tremendous bad luck. I’ve lived here for about 7 years and have never been robbed, attacked or otherwise threatened. Hope things improve wherever you go next.

Several years ago I was working in retail when I witnessed kids stealing, this is how the arguement went…

I confronted the girl and said …. “now put it back and get out of the store”
She screamed …..”Is it because of the colour of my skin”
I replied “NO, it’s because you have chocolates up your jumper and you’re trying to steal them”

I thought it was funny how when confronted I was played the race card.
It doesn’t set a good example when trumped with the Get The F@#$% out cos your stealing card!!!

Captain RAAF said :

matt31221 said :

Someone like Capt.RAAF will come out of his house holding a 22 cal where the thief is braking into the bathroom window and shoot the thief in the buttocks.

22 Cal are for ladieboys and old people, Captain RAAF’s calibre of choice is .300 Winchester Magnum.

Get that up ya while crawling through my bathroom window and they’ll be washing you off the walls with a garden hose!

Wow just saw my amateur spelling mistake – “thief is braking into”, should be “thief is breaking into”. Man I should have been paying more attention at school

Capt Raaf why does that not surprise me that you would think 22. is for girls LOL!! But 300 winnie mag? I would of thought your cal of choice would be 338. Lapua mag! But seriously, it goes without saying that one should NEVER underestimate a 22 rimfire in the hands of a competent shooter.

FedUpWithBogans said :

#28 you are exactly right – race does not matter! I was just preempting the usual race-related comments whereby all social problems in Australia are cause by migrants/refugees/aboriginals.

In my experience, this attitude is much less prevalent in Canberra than in other capital cities.

Drew9 said :

Quote : And I was only a minute from the notorious Video Ezy

So why is the Video Ezy in Ngunnawal notorious? Just curious…

Yeah, it’s notorious all right. It got held up. A lot. At one stage there had been three holdups of increasing violence in the space of about 6 months or so. I’ve heard it has closed now, not surprisingly.

Captain RAAF9:52 am 16 Feb 11

matt31221 said :

Someone like Capt.RAAF will come out of his house holding a 22 cal where the thief is braking into the bathroom window and shoot the thief in the buttocks.

22 Cal are for ladieboys and old people, Captain RAAF’s calibre of choice is .300 Winchester Magnum.

Get that up ya while crawling through my bathroom window and they’ll be washing you off the walls with a garden hose!

FedUpWithBogans said :

Gospeedygo – do you have any VALID comments at all? What do you think I should have done exactly? Are you saying that I shouldn’t have parked my car on the street outside my home – is that asking for trouble in your opinion? Well isn’t that what this whole stream is about? THINK about it if you can!

Maybe you shouldn’t think that you are the centre of attention. I never quoted you or even referred to your post at all. Also given your post was 15 minutes before mine, chances are I never saw it in the first place. Tool.

FedUpWithBogans11:55 pm 15 Feb 11

#28 you are exactly right – race does not matter! I was just preempting the usual race-related comments whereby all social problems in Australia are cause by migrants/refugees/aboriginals.
cegee : are you capable of writing a comment that makes sense at all? You seem to be having trouble with even a simple four word statement!

so… piss off, then?

spiderinsider9:47 pm 15 Feb 11

FedUpWithBogans said :

No – none of them are aboriginal, but yes – it is a Government house.

Not sure why they would be Aboriginal, or why their race is relevant at all. No one group of people has a monopoly on antisocial behaviour, that’s for sure.

To the OP, that does sound like tremendous bad luck. I’ve lived here for about 7 years and have never been robbed, attacked or otherwise threatened. Hope things improve wherever you go next.

FedUpWithBogans9:07 pm 15 Feb 11

Just because you have not had problems does not mean they do not exist! OBVIOUSLY
Gospeedygo – do you have any VALID comments at all? What do you think I should have done exactly? Are you saying that I shouldn’t have parked my car on the street outside my home – is that asking for trouble in your opinion? Well isn’t that what this whole stream is about? THINK about it if you can!

gospeedygo said :

Y’know…. maybe you’re like the guy who parked his bike on the street in Braddon overnight. That is, there are obvious things you could have done to make sure you were less of a target but bitch and moan anyway.

Why should anyone have to do anything to make themselves less of a target. Yet another case of blaming the victim. Having said that, though, a prudent person would make some effort to reduce the risk.

Quote : And I was only a minute from the notorious Video Ezy

So why is the Video Ezy in Ngunnawal notorious? Just curious…

“If nothing is done to catch these thieves then whats to stop them from continuing on with their bad behaviour?”

Someone like Capt.RAAF will come out of his house holding a 22 cal where the thief is braking into the bathroom window and shoot the thief in the buttocks.

This has REALLY happened as there was a special report on TV about it. This thief came clean and was confessing to robbing hundreds of houses over the course of a year when an owner came out and shot him in the arse! The thief swore that he’d never rob another house again after laying on the concrete in pain. It’s only a matter of time!

Yeah, I’ve got teenage no-hoper over the back fence. Music at all hours, mum seems unable to control him. Police came a few weeks ago to take him away for what seemed like some kind of assault on his mum. I met him on Sunday at 3am in a short conversation about his listening habits, but was unwilling to assault him at the time, despite an almost overwhelming urge. He didn’t take any notice of my plea for silence. Of course my neighbours told me this had been going on for years, they’ve been egged, had their letterbox destroyed a few times, urine and excrement on their property courtesy of the lad, constant verbal abuse etc. No matter where you go, there will always be scum. I’ve been lucky enough to never have encountered this kind of stuff before.

A variation on the question others have asked – Did you only stay in the one suburb?

Personally, I’ve been in Canberra for 9 years now – a year in Waramanga, six months in Ngunnawal, two years in Flynn, a handful of months between Narrabundah and Latham, two years in Florey before buying in Amarro.

In only one of those suburbs did my wife have her car broken into twice, my car three times, before eventually we sold one car, just before having the other stolen and written off – prize of pride to the one who guesses which first.

The police response was more centered around providing a case file number to provide to our insurance company, and frankly, I don’t expect them to ever contact me and say “yeah, we caught the kids who did it”. Its petty crime, and only really meaningful to me – in the scheme of things, worse things could happen.

I’d also be interested to know where you were! I lived in Ngunnawal for two years and didn’t have a problem. And I was only a minute from the notorious Video Ezy.

Pommy bastard5:32 pm 15 Feb 11

I’ve just heard from my daughter, who has returned home from college, that her new laptop has arrived.. Over $1000 of laptop was on our doorstep for half a day.

I’ve lived here for nigh on ten years, having lived in three other counties, and this is my second capital to live in. If you think Canberra is in anyway bad, then you have a shock coming to you when you relocate.

Y’know…. maybe you’re like the guy who parked his bike on the street in Braddon overnight. That is, there are obvious things you could have done to make sure you were less of a target but bitch and moan anyway.

FedUpWithBogans said :

One eventually destroyed one of our cameras (that is how stupid they are), so we were able to get him arrested, for what it’s worth. .

Video please?

FedUpWithBogans5:11 pm 15 Feb 11

So sorry to hear all that trouble. I’ve had similar problems in the inner north – moved from McKellar where we never had any incidents. Since being in our new place (3 yrs) we’ve had to install a roller door on our carport, and a security alarm and cameras around the house just so that the neighbourhood hoons will leave us alone. They wrecked our second car, which had been parked on the street, within two weeks of moving in. They kicked in our new colourbond fence multiple times, painted obscenities on our fence, thrown stuff at us, etc. One eventually destroyed one of our cameras (that is how stupid they are), so we were able to get him arrested, for what it’s worth. We have had three restraining orders against our neighbour’s son – these started when he was 15 years old – he hasn’t ever been to school since we’ve been there – spending his time with mates in the backyard drinking and taking drugs all day. No – none of them are aboriginal, but yes – it is a Government house. Real low-life. Unfortunately, I believe Canberra has one of the highest densities of public housing of any Aust city. I have nothing against public housing EXCEPT that people like this, who are known to be in constant trouble with the community and the police, should have to justify why they should be allowed to stay. I have always been too scared to approach the Housing Dept to get them evicted – I believe that would be putting our lives at risk. I am REALLY grateful now that this hoon has left home, and I hope he does not live near you.
as a PS – I have friends in various other suburbs with similar horror stories.

Scum capital? Move to Sydney, you’ll be much safer there.

Kerryhemsley5:02 pm 15 Feb 11

That sounds like a very rough time.

I have always found Canberra safe and family friendly.

It may just be the suburb you are living in.

Not a fan of my kids playing in Mcdonalds playgrounds for a number of reasons.

Hope it gets better where ever you go.

Sorry you’ve had such a bad experience.

I’ve been living here 20 years and have never had house or car broken into (touch wood).

My neighbours come tell us if we’ve left our car lights on, or if the burgular alarm has gone off during the day, have babysat the kids, sat with our distraught dog during a thunderstorm and brought over home-grown vegetables from their garden.

At least in 5 weeks time, we won’t be the whiners capital anymore.

What suburb did you live in?

screaming banshee4:41 pm 15 Feb 11

Ngunnawal?

I’ve lived in Canberra for 22 years and have been broken into once. We had nothing overly valuable stolen, only a few video games, CDs and sunglasses. Sorry to hear about your bad luck.

As others have asked, which suburb is this? There are a few suburbs around town that have a bad name for themselves, much like any other large city.

la mente torbida4:38 pm 15 Feb 11

Okay, I’ve lived in Canberra for over 45 years.

None of the above has happened.

Hope you have a better time in whichever utopian paradise you’re moving to. My tip: avoid Paramatta, my friend’s car was broken into three times in nine months of living there, making it almost three times as scummy as canberra.

“If nothing is done to catch these thieves then whats to stop them from continuing on with their bad behaviour?”

I think you’d be more pissed off if you see what doesn’t happen to scumbags when they are caught.

Sorry you had all that happen btw. What suburb?

Where did you come from and where will you go?

eyeLikeCarrots4:19 pm 15 Feb 11

\o

Thats some seriously bad luck you’ve had there.

Post here in 12 months and tell us how things turned out.

trying to pick the neighbourhood from the description. If it was just robberies I’d say Belco, but the other stuff…

What suburb did you live in?

Sorry about your experiences. Charnwood by chance?

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.