Australia’s vast land and beautiful natural environment have long made it popular with tourists and investors alike. But for the same reason, Australia is affected by bushfires every year, and bushfires cause major economic losses. Investors considering an Australian property should therefore try to avoid areas that are regularly affected by bushfires, to reduce risk. This article shares several useful websites for checking bushfire risk, crime rates and other everyday-life information, to help investors understand the various risks in an area before buying.
Bushfire-Affected-Area Websites
New South Wales Official Bushfire-Prone-Land Page
Check if a property is on bushfire prone land
This page lets you check whether a specific area in New South Wales is prone to bushfires. The information is provided by the NSW Rural Fire Service; simply enter the address or street number to find out directly whether it is in a bushfire-prone area.
Western Australia Bushfire-Prone-Area Map
An official Western Australian government information site with the same function as the New South Wales site above.
Victoria’s Historical Bushfire Records
Victoria’s records of past bushfires, showing the area affected by each fire.
Federal Government Monitoring Site, Landgate
A fire-monitoring information site developed by the Landgate team, an Australian government agency. FireWatch uses satellite imagery to detect and report observed fires, and tracks the ongoing impact of fires on land. The site lets you check fire records from the past two years and their subsequent impact.
Crime Statistics Websites
Victoria Crime Rate Statistics and Maps
Run by the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA), which is independent of Victoria Police and is responsible for processing, analyzing and publishing Victoria’s crime statistics. The CSA aims to provide efficient and transparent information services to assist and inform policymakers, researchers and the Victorian public. The agency’s legal basis is the Crime Statistics Act 2014, which provides for the publication and release of crime statistics, research into crime trends, and the appointment of a Chief Statistician for this purpose. Under the Act, the Chief Statistician is empowered to receive law-enforcement data from the Chief Commissioner of Police, and is responsible for releasing and publishing statistical information relating to crime in Victoria.
Victoria crime rate statistics and maps
New South Wales Crime Rate Statistics and Maps
Run by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, established in 1969 and part of the state government’s Department of Communities and Justice. It provides influential, impartial data to support the state’s policymaking and justice system, and gives the public access to information on these factors and on crime and justice trends. The map can also be filtered by category of crime.
New South Wales crime rate statistics and maps
Queensland Crime Rate Statistics and Maps
Direct data provided by the Queensland Police Service; simply enter a postcode and time period to look up crime in that area over that time. It also provides statistics broken down by date and offence type.
Queensland crime rate statistics and maps
National Crime Rate Statistics for All of Australia
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ crime rate statistics, which provide a range of public data — beyond crime rates, you can also find various economic, labour-force and health statistics, making it a very useful resource.
National crime rate statistics for Australia
Have a question about this guide? Leave a comment below, or ask Zagdim directly.
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