The national capital may also be the relaxed one, with a new survey showing Canberrans are less concerned than most in the nation about behaviour issues ranging from smoking to gambling and unsafe sex.
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The findings from the 2013 Australia's Behaviour Concerns report showed this was despite those in the ACT being affected by nearly half the issues more than the national average.
The online survey asked 2500 people whether they were worried about 38 criminal, antisocial and/or discouraged actions, with those in the ACT found to be less likely to say they were extremely concerned about 36 of the issues.
Only the drinking of more than four standard alcoholic drinks in a day raised Canberrans' anxiety above the national average, while nearly one-third of surveyed residents said they were extremely concerned about smoking tobacco, the same as the national figure.
Canberrans' apparent liberal attitude meant concern for unsafe sexual practices was 15 percentage points lower than the Australian mean, and we also worry less about unsafe work, with only 22 per cent of people extremely worried, 13 points below average.
The research found Canberrans were also significantly less concerned about domestic violence against women, sexual assault and rape.
This was despite 27 per cent of ACT respondents saying they had been impacted by a sexual assault or rape during their life - eight percentage points higher than the national average - and having almost the same rate of domestic violence experience as those throughout the nation.
The levels of concern were similar across the gender divide, although Canberra women were more concerned about four issues - workplace harassment and discrimination, prescription misuse, smoking tobacco and the four-drink dilemma - than their sisters nationally.
Canberra men on the other hand were more worried only about the heavy drinking.
Caterina Giorgi from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education said it was no surprise that Canberrans were more concerned about alcohol-related issues than other risky behaviours.
“Often people don’t think about Canberra and think about alcohol-related harms in the same way that they would in say Kings Cross [in Sydney], but in the ACT we do have a problem with alcohol,” she said.
“We have increasing rates of people seeking treatment for alcohol-dependence; we have increase rates of people presenting to our hospital and emergency departments, and the community sees that.”
Ms Giorgi said she hopes the survey results will be taken into account as part of a current ACT government review of alcohol laws.
The survey by Sweeney Research and The Shannon Company used interlocking quota controls to ensure a proper representation in gender, age, and state and territory demographics.
with Hamish Boland-Rudder