Territory Alliance - Melanie Usher for Katherine

About

Melanie was born in Katherine and raised on cattle stations in the region. Although Katherine was her hometown while she was growing up, she first moved into town in 2003 to join her husband. Together they have built a home, a family and a business in Katherine. They are very active in the community, regularly volunteering their time for many good causes and community sporting groups. Melanie completed a Bachelor of Arts – Humanities through Queensland University of Technology, going on to work in Government before joining her husband in the family business, working as the Office Manager for 12 years. Melanie is passionate about small business, and has long lobbied for all level of Government to develop procurement policies that will prioritise value for money and local content as means to encourage the growth of local business as well as providing benefit to our economy. As a former Katherine School of the Air student, coupled with her experiences from providing parent help at her children’s school, Melanie is keenly aware of the educational needs of our children. She is passionate about improving the results for our kids and believes the key is early years support. Growing up in the pastoral industry has given Melanie strong insight into the opportunities available to the Katherine region. Katherine was built on our primary industries, and we should be capitalising on our central location to support the growth of both, these industries, and our town. Melanie knows there is a great need in Katherine for more aged care facilities, better access to our river and more support for our struggling tourism industry following the advent of COVID-19 and she is looking forward to working with all the stakeholders to advance these issues. Melanie loves Katherine and is passionate about ensuring we make the most of our opportunities. She is looking forward to working with business, government and industries to promote her town and put Katherine back on the map.