Just 20 minutes from Tindal and located on key transport corridors linking Darwin to Australia’s interior, Katherine is ideally positioned to pilot a new model of regional workforce development. The real opportunity lies in embedding sustained, hands-on defence industry engagement into the local education system, creating a talent pipeline that is regionally rooted and mission-ready. To leverage this opportunity, Defence and defence industry need to move beyond guest lectures and short-term outreach. Sceptics may argue that a single regional STEAM centre cannot shift a national labour curve. That means viewing workforce development not as a downstream problem, but as a strategic priority to be embedded from the earliest stages of capability planning.