Neighbours ready to connect

Baw Baw Shire is one of the top four areas in the state where residents are more willing to connect with their neighbours.
The finding was reported by Neighbourhood Watch Victoria in partnership with RACV, in the Community Safety Perception: Safety in Neighbours Report, with data collected in 2025.
Across Baw Baw, eight per cent of people know where a neighbour keeps their spare key, 42 per cent keep an eye on their neighour's home, 46 per cent say hello to their neighbours occasionally and only four per cent don't know their neighbours.
Overall, residents in Baw Baw reported feeling predominantly safe in the shire, with people scoring an average of 7.2 out of 10 for 'felt safety'.
However, this has dropped from 7.5 out of 10 in 2024 and is a significant drop from 9 out of 10 in 2021.
The number of security systems also increased across the shire between 2021 and 2024 from 20 per cent to 36 per cent respectively.
The statewide study found people who were connected to their neighbours felt safer at home regardless of local crime rates in their area.
In 2025, the number of criminal offences recorded in Baw Baw was 5193, equating to 8228 per 100,000 people.
Over the same time period, offence rates varied across the 42 local government areas (LGAs) from 3149 to 23,998 per 100,000 people.
Neighbourhood Watch Victoria chief executive officer Bambi Gordon said the findings highlighted safety was as much about relationships as it was about crime statistics.
"What this research tells us is that how safe Victorians feel at home has less to do with the crime rate in their post code and more to do with whether they know the people next door,"
"We saw areas with very different crime rates report remarkably similar levels of felt safety – and time and again, it was the connection between neighbours that made the difference."
The study analysed 2217 responses from residents across 42 LGAs and found the more connected people felt to the community, the higher the safety perception.
Feeling safe averaged 7.5 out of 10 in the most-connected areas, compared with 7.1 in the least-connected.
The four LGAs that led the state for residents ready to make closer connections with their neighbours, were Moonee Valley (71.4 per cent), Stonnington (54.2 per cent), Baw Baw and Moorabool (46.2 per cent).
Community connection and Neighbourhood Watch also ranked among the top factors helping participants feel safer and recorded crime alone does not track felt safety.