How peaceful is Australia and New Zealand?

Australia and New Zealand both have there fair share of gun crime and violent incidents, there is gang violence, car jackings and the like also however I grew up there and was never involved in anything like that, never witnessed anything more than the odd fight and never heard about anything local other than house and car robberies. Bear in mind that Aus is a big country with a small population so everyone has space, the weather is good and people are generally pretty happy. If you are thinking of going over, it was the best thing my parents ever did, you won't regret it. One last tip though, Koala's aren't Bears, they are not from that particular family. Just call them Koala's. They'll be far happier.