Good news, Western Australia: you’re rather good at this neighbour thing. Our CEO, Danny Gorog, joined Tod Johnston on The Long Lunch on 6PR Perth to talk bins, boundaries and who’s got the friendliest street in the country.
We asked about 17,000 Snappers to rate how friendly their neighbours are out of 5. The national average came in at 3.84. WA scored 3.87, which puts it third in the country, behind Tasmania (4.02) and the ACT.
Perth has a quirky claim to fame too. In every other state, regional neighbours rated higher than their city counterparts. WA is the exception, where metro Perth comes out slightly ahead of the regions. Danny’s theory for why some other states score lower is that denser communities, with more high-rises and people living on top of each other, create a few more friction points. Tod’s theory about farmers living next to farmers was equally persuasive.
Danny was also keen to keep things in perspective: only about 1 in 100 of our reports is about a neighbour. But we dug into the ones that were, and the gripes come back to rubbish and cleanliness. Snappers have told us about a wheelie bin and a chest of drawers set up as a makeshift barrier to stop a neighbour’s truck blocking a garage, and about a bin that overflows every Thursday night and leaves a mess on Friday mornings.
So what’s the best first move? Danny’s advice is the old-fashioned one: knock on the door and have a friendly chat. A polite “do you mind bringing your bins in once the truck’s been?” goes a long way, and he put it simply:
“Is there a way I can sort this out easily?”
Listen to the full segment below.
