FOREVER a country girl at heart, Katrina Fanning says being a good community member has always been important for her.

Growing up in Junee, Katrina, 50, says she never started out thinking she would do life-changing work, but after her recent win of Canberra Citizen of the Year 2023, she’s proud to see her work benefitting so many people.

“I have heard someone describe it once as, ‘it’s okay to be the first at something, and to celebrate that, but your real job is to not be the last,’ and I think that’s a good way of putting it.”

As a proud Wiradjuri woman, Katrina is working through Coolamon Advisors to help indigenous people set up their own business to become economically independent.

“Helping other indigenous people set up their own businesses so they can work on what they want, at the time they want is a lot of fun,” she says.

“We do a lot of training and mentoring and just helping other people, whether that’s huge or whether it’s relatively small, it’s important.”

Katrina’s previous achievements include being appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, the ACT Australian of the Year in 2020, a Public Service Medal in 2015, ACT Woman of the Year in 2014 and ACT NAIDOC Person of the Year in 2014.

“I’m pretty proud of that. You never get to know who the person is who nominates you, which is a shame,” she says.

“I’d like to be able to genuinely thank people for taking the time to do that. It really makes you stop and think.”

Following a successful playing career, Katrina says her love for rugby league has only grown.

“I am on the NRL’s indigenous council, so I help on games like All Stars, and I helped design the indigenous round,” she says.

“I also help when there are incidents of racism, such as what has been said to Latrell Mitchell and Jack Wighton in recent months. I provide advice on how to deal with those incidents when they occur and, unfortunately, we are nowhere near eradicating that.

“I also sit on the Raiders board, and we have the NRLW side we’re getting ready for, so that is a lot of fun and a really exciting thing.”

But, the indigenous Voice to Parliament is taking most of her focus at the moment.

“I’m involved and yes, I’m voting ‘yes’, for very, very simple reasons,” says Katrina.

“Australia has this unique position, of the oldest living culture on the planet, and we don’t celebrate it. I think by having that recognised in the Constitution, we can start to change that.

“It acknowledges that it is part of Australia’s story, rather than this pre and post-separation of the country, which is what the Constitution does in a way, at the moment.

“It’s really important that the advice that politicians receive when it’s about Aboriginal people, is by the people that Aboriginal people want to speak for them, and not just who is politically or business aligned.

“Communities should be able to pick for themselves who speaks for them and they know what the solutions are. They just need their voice to be heard, and that’s what this does.”

What keeps Katrina going is knowing she’s part of something much bigger than herself.

“I think it’s easy to give up if you feel disconnected from everyone and everything, to doubt yourself,” she says.

“Being part of something that’s so old and ancient, the generations immediately before, my idea of sacrifice and hardship is nothing compared to what they sacrificed, so we could have the life that we have now.

“I’ve never set out to do things knowing they would be big. I just do it because I like doing it and I like the people that I’m helping, and I am glad that the things that I’ve enjoyed doing have benefitted a lot of people.

“My advice is, we’re capable of a lot more than what people expect, and you actually get far more from this work than what you put in.

“It might seem like giving a lot away, but there’s no better feeling than seeing someone who doesn’t even know that you helped create an opportunity. Just to see that it’s changed their life, it’s just such a wonderful feeling. So if you can find ways to help people and help the community be the best it can, there’s no better feeling.”