Rohit Duranjay

With all due respect to the hardworking people of Mount Druitt, while the kindness and convenience aspect is often unparalleled in other suburb, as a former resident, I would have to disagree with many people’s assessment on the crime rate and school quality.

The schools, while adequate to a minimal extent, are nothing that resembles “top quality” and it can often be seen that kids are “roaming the streets”, and contributing to the crime rate significantly, decreasing the overall liveability of the suburb. By a variety of academic and social metrics, it can often be seen as a far better option for children to go to school elsewhere entirely.

The crime rate, also, while better than how it is portrayed in the media and how it was a few years ago, is still of the worst in Sydney, with other suburbs being far better alternatives if one wishes to live in an area with an actual “very low crime rate”. Robberies, murder and the like are common but somewhat avoidable if you treat the suburb for what it is, by avoiding any possible risk to you, your property (your house or any valuables on you at any time) or your family, and avoiding night-time travel without a motor vehicle. You get what you pay for in terms of this metric, with property values reflecting this, however this (property values) is slowly starting to change. One can/used to be able to stand to save a significant amount of money by living in this suburb, in comparison to the rest of Sydney. This needs to be mentioned as one can avoid unwanted criminal activity and “feel safe”, to a moderate extent, if they exercise reasonable precautions that would not be seen as necessary in other suburbs. This makes the suburb quite car dependent, especially at night, with poorly lit streets and non-existent sidewalk that attract criminals.

This doesn’t make Mount Druitt an “unlivable” suburb however the longstanding issues are far more nuanced than “nothing beats Mt Druitt”, and in my case, many places can if you are looking for long term secure family living (considering that kids would like to go outside after dark without almost predatory, to them, precautions) rather than affordable accommodation.