Mr Katter is pushing the public to blame crime on NT ‘itinerants’ which could be seen as a thinly veiled nod to the Indigenous population coming across the border into Mount Isa. 

We know nothing gets people talking faster than a crime debate at the dinner table. 

But there is a tendency to blame crime on Indigenous people in this town.  

Tapping into prejudice is usually less about facts than historical mythology.

​As someone who spends her fair share of time covering court, I can assure you that violent crime in this town is not specific to a particular race. Countless men appear before magistrate James Morton each morning, pleading guilty to bashing, strangling and intimidating their female partners. 

They are black and they are white. 

This fear-mongering narrative of dangerous criminals coming across the border sounds scarily similar to something US president Donald Trump would spout. 

What is next? Building a fence on the edge of Camooweal?

This journalist is herself an NT itinerant and came across the border in February. I have enjoyed a warm welcome from the Mount Isa community and I hope we continue to welcome new people to town.

For Mr Katter to suggest that violence in Mount Isa is mostly perpetrated by ‘itinerants’ from the Northern Territory is not based on facts. 

Mr Katter does a pretty good job at advocating for his constituents and he is generally tapped into what the town needs.

But he should focus his energy on pushing the government for more youth programs rather than pleading for a government intervention. 

Research tells us, the way to break the cycle of crime is to get in early – and local programs that support at-risk youth are desperate for more funds. 

Yes there are more people from the NT in town at the moment and yes there have allegedly been some violent assaults in town.

But the two are not correlated.

Police confirm this. 

– Lydia Lynch.