24/09/2026
OPEN LETTER TO KATHERINE
I’d like to begin by acknowledging our community, its resilient spirit and the sense of togetherness we all experience in our own way.
The last wet season was nothing short of stressful for everyone. As we head into another wet, I wish Katherine the same strength and togetherness that carried us through the last one.
We may not be getting another 20-year flood this time around, but the mental effects of February and March 2025 haven’t disappeared. The heavy rain, rising river levels and uncertainty will undoubtedly raise blood pressure and anxiety for a lot of us.
To our local businesses:
To those who supported the community through the floods, those who somehow survived an incredibly slow Dry Season, and those who continue opening their doors every day despite rising costs and slowing business activity; we see you and we feel your pain.
Keep going.
This town needs risk-takers. It needs people willing to invest their own money, create jobs, take chances and stick their necks out for the betterment of Katherine. Not every decision will work and not every business will get everything right, but without people willing to take those risks, the town goes backwards.
To our police, emergency services and government workers:
Yes, crime is out of control and people are understandably frustrated.
Government and authorities are trying to regain control of the situation too. We should absolutely expect accountability and improvement, but we also have to remember that the men and women on the ground are human beings just like the rest of us.
There’s only so much we can expect individuals to achieve when they’re operating within systems, laws, resources and powers they don’t necessarily control.
To our support organisations and community services:
We know you’re stretched.
We know you’re short-staffed. We know the caseloads can be ridiculous. We know you won’t always have the right person, enough people or the perfect resources available to deal with every situation put in front of you.
Sometimes you’ll get things wrong.
But we also know there are people inside those organisations genuinely trying to make a difference with what they have.
To our healthcare workers:
You carry another enormous burden in this town. Long hours, staff shortages, difficult patients, limited resources and the realities of delivering healthcare in a regional and remote environment.
People will complain when the system fails them and sometimes those complaints will be completely justified but that shouldn’t erase the people who continue turning up for work and carrying the load.
To our teachers, schools and childcare workers:
You’re dealing with pressures that extend far beyond simply educating children.
Behavioural issues, staffing shortages, family circumstances, attendance problems and increasing expectations from parents and government all eventually land at your door.
We expect a lot from you because our children matter. But you’re human too.
To our young people:
You’re growing up in a town where opportunities can sometimes feel limited and where it’s very easy for the actions of a minority to shape how an entire generation is viewed.
Don’t allow that to become your identity.
There are businesses looking for workers, organisations looking for future leaders, sporting clubs looking for players and a community that genuinely wants to see its young people succeed.
To parents and families:
Government can’t raise our children for us.
Police can’t be everywhere.
Schools can’t fix everything that happens outside the school gate.
Community organisations can’t replace stable families and strong role models.
At some point we also have to look within our own homes and communities and ask what more we can do ourselves.
And finally, to all of us who call Katherine home:
We’re very good at pointing out what’s wrong.
Sometimes we’re less enthusiastic about recognising the pressures sitting behind it.
Businesses will make mistakes. Government will frustrate us. Police won’t always arrive when we want them to. Services will fall short. Parents will struggle. Kids will make bad decisions. People will say stupid things. And sometimes systems genuinely will fail people.
That doesn’t mean we stop demanding better.
It means we recognise that we are all human at the end of the day, and we all have limitations to what we can do.
Katherine isn’t one group.
It’s business owners, workers, police, nurses, teachers, public servants, community organisations, Traditional Owners, families, young people, newcomers and people whose families have called this place home for generations.
We don’t have to pretend everything is okay.
It isn’t.
But constantly tearing strips off each other isn’t going to fix it either.
We can hold each other accountable while still recognising the pressures each of us carries.
And as another Wet Season approaches, perhaps that’s the spirit Katherine needs most.
