The Sunday Interview: Outgoing Nedlands MP Katrina Stratton on loss, life and new opportunities

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The Sunday Interview: Outgoing Nedlands MP Katrina Stratton on loss, life and new opportunities

Each week The Sunday Times speaks with State MPs ahead of the March election. This week we speak with Labor MP for Nedlands, Dr Katrina Stratton

In your inaugural speech to State Parliament in May 2021, you said, “To love fiercely despite loss is perhaps one of the most courageous lessons that I have been taught”. What were you alluding to?

In 2012, my partner Steve was ******* in a motorbike accident. He clipped a kerb and he was thrown from his bike. My children, Cate and Oliver, were 3 and 9 when that happened. Steve was out for a ride at night. I was in bed, when police came to the door to essentially wake me up to a very different life. The person who taught me about courage was my grandmother, Marjorie Stratton, who lost two of her four children — and despite those losses, she loved with great ferocity.

How did you cope?

I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I have two amazing children, and I got out of bed every day for them. Steve would be so proud of the young people Cate and Oliver have become — kind, loving, protective and respectful. But I also had the most beautiful support from my family, my mum and dad, Richard and Jenny, and my dear mother-in-law, who has since passed away. Mum and Dad sold their house in Subiaco and moved in around the corner from the kids and I in Nedlands. They’ve been close by to help with the kids and juggling my various roles.

Does grief ever go away?

It changes shape. It never leaves you. I will miss Steve every day for the rest of my life.

Do you want to find love again?

I had a good experience with love. Not everyone can say that. If it (love) comes to me again that would be lovely but if it doesn’t, I have a lot of love in my life with two amazing kids and friends and family.

This year has been a horrendous year for road fatalities. Given Steve’s ******, what effect do road deaths have on you?

Road fatalities take me back to that knock on the door. Your life is forever changed. Behind every news story, every report of a road ******, there is another family that has got that knock on the door and their lives changed forever and thrown into a whole new world that they didn’t want.

What is your message to drivers and passengers alike?

That your split-second decisions — to not wear your seatbelt, to look at your phone while you are driving, and get into the car when you have one too many drinks, to drive when you are tired, to speed — those split-second decisions that you make will have an impact on your family across the generations.

Prior to entering politics in 2021, you had worked as a social worker and as a lecturer in social work. What made you want to be a politician?

Social work to me is inherently political. We work with people where systems aren’t working for them, or are impacted by ********, ********* and other issues. Politics to me was a natural progression.

You are one of the accidental MPs who won ******** seats at the 2021 State Election. Would you have won Nedlands if it wasn’t for COVID?

I am incredibly grateful to Mark McGowan. I wouldn’t have won Nedlands had it not been for his leadership (during COVID) and that of Roger Cook who was Health Minister during that time.

You won’t be recontesting Nedlands. Instead, you are contesting one of 37 positions in the Upper House, being Number 10 on Labor’s Ticket. Did you switch because you thought you’d lose in 2025?

When Dr Sally Talbot announced she was retiring I was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to move to the Legislative Council. My social work background means I have a broad policy interest, and I think being in the Council — if I’m elected — will be a very good fit for me.

What’s been your biggest achievement in Nedlands?

We did the extension at Shenton College. And the children’s hospice, Sandcastles. That’s something I am really proud of. ***** and dying children will go there for respite. Families will be able to stay together.

There has been some opposition to that project. What would you say to people opposing it?

I’d say, ‘If you dare, put yourself in the shoes of those parents and imagine that if you had to face the worst possible thing that any family could face, a dying child, you’d want to be in an environment that was entirely focused on you and your child’.

What’s the No.1 concern in Nedlands as we head to the March election?

Maintaining good quality public education, which is why I’m proud of the expansion of Shenton College and the second stage opening of Bob Hawke College. Climate change is another big concern for people in Nedlands.

As a social worker you saw the scourge of domestic ********* first-hand. How do we stop bad men from being violent?

It’s what social workers call a wicked problem. There is no one solution. It starts at home. We have to stop our boys listening to Andrew Tate (********* social media identity and misogynist). We have to teach all our kids to engage in respectful relationships and what that looks like, as well as addressing the hard end — police responses, refuges and crisis support. We need to have women’s refuges where they are needed — like in the inner city.

I understand you are a lover of champagne and shoes.

I will wear my high heels until my feet refuse. The 18th century widow Clicquot defied tradition and the law to create what is now this delicious champagne but hers is also a story of reinvention and becoming your true self in the face of tremendous loss, or grief.

A few ministerial gigs will be up for grabs after the election, assuming Labor wins. Which ministerial job would you love if you were offered a seat at Cabinet.

Given my background, I’d love to be the minister for the prevention of family and domestic *********, women’s interests, and communities. But minister (Sabine) Winton is doing an amazing job.

Three words to describe Roger Cook?

Genuine. Approachable. Experienced.

A word to describe the Opposition?

Omnishambles.

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