Surprising - Canberra is now the most liveable city

Comments on Meredith Clisby “Canberra wins liveability poll but housing still a concern”, 3/03/2014, http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-wins-liveability-poll-but-housing-still-a-concern-20140302-33uah.html

As a Canberran I felt some instant personal satisfaction when seeing the title of the article and particularly the first paragraph and sentence that says "Canberra has been ranked Australia's most liveable city but housing affordability remains a concern". That feeling sank almost completely after I read the full article.

One has to be a bit cynical about the ranking when seeing and knowing the following statement "Hobart finished third behind Adelaide and Canberra". Both the other two are cities struggling in attracting people and are probably the capital cities with slowest population growth rates among the capital cities.
Cities that struggle in growth in comparison are unlikely to be most liveable cities.
Fundamentally, perhaps the method used in the survey has its significant shortcomings that can be seen from the following statement in the article: "About 5390 people from all capital cities and regional centres Newcastle and Wollongong participated in the online survey, rating their city against a set of attributes."
The key words are "rating their city against a set of attributes".
Such methodology is hardly comparable across cities owing to its "own city" focus.