Katherine Turf Club pleading for support after another break-in

[Wandering Eyes]

Katherine Turf Club president Paul Mullins said the crime issue in his town was now out of control after his facility was broken into and destroyed yet again. (Photo: Katherine Turf Club)

What about us, PM? This is Katherine Turf Club president Paul Mullins’ plea to Anthony Albanese this week, with the Prime Minister visiting crime-hit Alice Springs.

Mullins has implored Albanese to also keep the remote Northern Territory town in his thoughts after the club was broken into once again.

Like Alice Springs, the crime situation in Katherine has become so bad that the turf club boss described his venue as “a bomb shelter”.

In fact, it has reached a point where Mullins has actually pleaded with the troubled young thieves to take whatever they want – just don’t destroy his facility, which is maintained by volunteers.

“I’ve got a cool room we built six years ago with doors on it that are probably irreplaceable,” he told HorseBetting.com.au.

“They’ve been smashed, and they didn’t need to be smashed. They could’ve opened them and taken what they wanted.

“There was nothing to take – there were a handful of soft drinks.

“We got two brand new fridges last year worth $4500 each – they smashed the doors on those and there was nothing in them.”

There have been a number of break-ins at Katherine Turf Club over the past six months.

And just like the way crime has spiralled out of control in the Red Centre, Mullins said this was the worst of the lot.

“They smashed all the glass out of our hot food service bays,” he said.

“We lost three windows, four TVs, two doors out of the bi-folds.

“They smashed every security camera, the alarm system, every fire extinguisher.

“It’s just a bomb shelter.

“This was the worst one because there was just so much broken glass, which is so hard to replace.”

What was particularly difficult to take for Mullins was that his team of volunteers had worked so hard to put Katherine Turf Club in a strong position to possibly host a second race day in the coming years.

And that’s without mentioning the fact that the annual Katherine Race Day – planned for August 19 – is already the biggest sporting event for the town, attracting a few thousand spectators from all over the country.

“We worked ourselves into a situation where we actually had a couple of dollars, and we could put a bit more money back into the club and community,” Mullins said.

“Unfortunately, now we’ve got to spend it (on cleaning and repairs).

“We’ve got to get some advice because you can claim on insurance, and then the next year you can’t be insured.

“It’s one of those catch-22 scenarios and it’s not good at all.

“We’ll have to go through it with the broker and find out what’s what.”

But if it continues to be broken into, Mullins fears that goodwill might eventually stop.

“We had walkie-talkies for security and they’ve all gone missing,” he said.

“The TAB has been kind enough to give us second-hand televisions for a nice little TAB facility inside the building.

“Three of those were smashed.

“You can’t keep asking people to give you stuff when you can’t look after them.”

Despite having a good security and alarm system, Mullins said the perpetrators could simply destroy them in their efforts to steal without being detected.

“We’ve got full security, alarm systems, cameras, the whole lot,” he said.

“They smashed all that off. They broke the power box outside and turned off the power to the building, and then smashed everything.

“Katherine Council owns the property itself being on the showgrounds. And there are no security checks over here, there’s no surveillance done, no security companies.

“The place is not secure – you can end up at the showgrounds from several different points.

“So they’re just wandering around wherever they please.”

Mullins lamented the lack of support from Katherine Council.

As a result of this senseless violence and theft, he said the neighbouring Katherine Camels football club was looking at an alternative venue.

“Local council haven’t come near us. It was reported to us by one of their workers who does the grounds over here,” Mullins said.

“He’s good – he keeps an eye on it. But at the end of the day he can’t be here 24/7.

“He sees what he sees when he gets to work.

“He’s part of an AFL club that used to be over here, but they’ve moved on because the place is not secure and they’ve lost a lot of gear.”

According to the Katherine Turf Club president, it is not just his club which is almost at its collective wits’ end regarding the crime situation in his home town.

“The Show Society, there’s a Taekwondo club over here. It’s a sport hub, and I’m just disappointed that there’s not more protection for the people who rent these places each year to host major events,” Mullins said.

“And our event has become the biggest one-day event in Katherine. People come here from everywhere in the country.

“The race day has gotten bigger in recent years.

“We pushed through Covid and had a race day when the rest of the country didn’t.

“Katherine Camels – I think they’re still in the realms of discussion because there was an uproar at their grand final with Ngukurr which created issues.

“And their clubhouse got broken into after that. The town’s got a major issue.”

Mullins singled out Albanese for not making plans to also visit Katherine and other remote Territory towns.

He said the growing crime wave in the Red Centre was also a Territory-wide issue.

“Albanese going down to Alice Springs – he should’ve started at Darwin and checked out every town all the way down,” he said.

“We’ve all got the same problem – it’s not an Alice Springs problem, it’s a Territory problem.

“We’re the crossroads to the rest of the Territory. Council is screaming they’ve got no money, but they seem to be able to keep wasting it.”

Katherine Turf Club volunteers were kept busy cleaning up glass shards after the latest break-in at the facility. (Photo: KTC)

Through this adversity, Mullins still sees hope for his club because of the community support it receives after every break-in.

“The community’s in uproar. We had Katherine Kleen Yards ring me up saying ‘what do you need? Skip bins? Anything to cart your rubbish?’” he said.

“A local towing company because we were gifted $102,000 worth of new jumpouts last year.

“And I’m terrified that if I put the cover on them, it’ll get slashed up and damaged.

“So the local tilt-tray service has offered to take those and put them in his storage yard for six months, so they’re protected.

“The local businesses are good with us, and we’ve got to keep working with them.”

Mullins reserved praise for Thoroughbred Racing NT – headed up by Andrew O’Toole – and the financial support that organisation has given his club.

“They’re awesome with us. There’s not a lot they can do,” Mullins said.

“And that’s why I’m trying to protect the assets we’ve been gifted from them over the past five years.

“They recognise that we’re going places and we’re pushing for a second race day.”

TRNT also provided the financial boost Katherine Turf Club required for a much-needed new track.

“At the end of the day, $102,000 for new jumpouts and last year they dipped in $80,000 to help us resurface the track,” Mullins said.

“We’ve gone from an oil track to a sand-and-water track now.

“We got it right – it was a good surface and we ran a good meeting with an extra race out of it.

“We’re pushing for an extra race meeting, but we had seven races instead of six last year.

“So it’s become more popular.”

Mullins said the Katherine Turf Club Race Day was fast being embraced by trainers, owners and jockeys from all over Australia.

But all the hard work him and his team have put in could go to waste if these break-ins continue.

And that would mean a much-loved community event that has been around since the 1960s – and which continued during the lockdowns of 2020 – would suddenly come to a halt.

“A lot of travelling horses and trainers hang around here (after Darwin Cup Day) and try to pick up some more money on their way back home,” Mullins said.

“More horses, more people are coming from Adelaide and Melbourne.”

Mullins said the NT Government’s lifting of its grog ban for remote communities from July last year has led to a spike in break-ins at his club and around Katherine.

“Again, the council owns the grounds. But they haven’t been looking after it,” he said.

“We turn around and say ‘here’s an external problem – it’s a break-in, you’ve got to pay for the windows’.

“But they’re not paying for everything inside, either.

“They say ‘there must’ve been grog’.”

Mullins also called for harsher penalties for those who break in and vandalise his facility.

“Accountability has to come into it. There’s the law book,” he said.

“That’s what the crime is and there’s the punishment that goes with the crime.

“I don’t think it matters what age you are – you know right from wrong and you’re taught this from day one.

“They need to learn this and have some respect for themselves, so they can respect other people.”

Mullins said at the end of its annual race meeting, the club gets rid of any leftover alcohol on its premises.

“We’re not licensed to have grog 12 months of the year. We’ve got to apply for a licence every time,” he said.

“So at the end of the races, if there’s any grog leftover it goes.

“We have a buy-back deal with the companies we buy through, and they take it back.

“These are kids who are 10 to 20 years old with nothing better to do.

“They’re just all about smashing stuff. It’s just destruction, absolute destruction.”

A small town like Katherine desperately needs experienced and passionate volunteers like Mullins.

But he said if the break-ins at his club continue, he will just pack up and leave.

“This is my 20th year (in the town), and if they want to pay me out tomorrow I’ll get in my truck and go for a drive,” he said.

“It’s the way it makes you feel. I’ve watched this town have its 10-year evolution where it peaks and goes down, and it gets a bit rugged.

“But the next five years can be very promising with the amount of business and work coming to the town.

“But there are a lot of people saying ‘you know what? I’m close enough to retirement – I’ll just pack up and go and see the country’.”

Mullins would prefer not to see his club with its hard-working volunteers in the headlines for the wrong reasons.

But with fed-up club officials finally making a heartfelt Facebook post describing the latest break-in and the disappointment it caused them, he said support from far and wide could only help the historic venue bounce back.

“None of us get paid. We actually pay our own membership fees at $75 a head to be a part of our own club,” he said.

“And that allows us to bring our partners to the race day.

“We’ve got 20-30 members, and a lot of new interest as well.

“This publicity probably hasn’t done us any favours, but it’s probably brought a few new people out of the woodwork who’ve said ‘well, we might go and support these guys now’.

“Anyone who wants to support us – come along and join in.

“If you’re not living close enough and you just want a weekend out in August, come and hang out with us.”

Katherine Turf Club committee member Tia Solloway said seeing people leave her beautiful little town because of this senseless and now-common crime was soul-crushing for her and her family.

“I missed your call because I was vacuuming up glass,” she said.

“It’s not just frustrating, it’s very disappointing.

“It’s predominantly just a town event, and we like to put back into the town.

“My kids are all grown up and they’re going to have kids.

“It’s like ‘what is going to be left for our grandchildren?’

“Nobody wants to come to Katherine anymore. It was such a beautiful, proud little town. It always has been.”

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