I have lived here for quite a few years now and like you came from Perth originally. As for bad neighbourhoods its hard to say, for example: There is a suburb called Manuka which has a rep for being abit snobby, everything there is really nice & well presented but not even a KM from these lovely shops is a place called Stuart flats which is notorious for having hard drug users & that wonderful stuff that goes with those types of people. The point is no matter how great the suburb seems to be it doesnt take long to realise that close by there is some less than desirable people lurking about. That said nowhere here in Canberra could come close to Midland train station on a friday night .

As far as Canberra having a bad rep, the only thing I can think of that is bad here is the lack of things to do and the weather, but that really depends on what types of things your into. Straight up the night life here is crap and it gets cold beyond belief. When I first moved here I thought I would be back in Perth by the end of the year but this place has grown on me over time. Things that im into such as toy collecting is much easier here than other states, because we dont have such a vast population it becomes quite easy to obtain every single figure that gets released here (Assuming you want them). Im also a big traveller, Canberra is a great home base for quick & cheap flights to the eastern states.

If you wind up moving here give me a yell, we can go for a beer