SLAVERY is still occurring as close to home as the Nambucca Valley and Coffs Coast according to Raewyn Macky, a prominent anti-intensive horticulture activist.

The representative of the Nambucca Environment Network (NEN) addressed the issue in the public forum section of Nambucca Valley Council’s first meeting of 2025.

Ms Macky cited a report titled “Be Our Guests: Addressing urgent modern slavery risks for temporary migrant workers in rural and regional NSW”, published by the NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner in September 2024, which names the Nambucca Valley and Coffs Harbour as two regions where PALM (Pacific Australia Labour Mobility) scheme and migrant workers have sought humanitarian support.

Ms Macky, who has been a vocal opponent to the recent influx of blueberry farms to the Nambucca Valley, said her group had been made aware of cases of problematic working conditions in the local area.

“Houses are often overcrowded with up to 18 people living in a three bedroom house,” and “workers are overcharged for rent with each person paying $130 to $170 per week for their mattress on the floor,” she said.

She also claimed that workers are often paid well below award rates, with wages calculated based on kilograms of fruit picked rather than an hourly rate.

“Workers usually have to pay $10 per day to get to and from the farms and are often unaware of this prior to starting their employment,” she added.

Long shifts or up to ten or eleven hours in unrelenting heat, language barriers, little to no understanding of the chemicals in use on farms, as well as poor provision of toilets and sanitation facilities were other issues Ms Macky raised in relation to migrant workers at intensive horticulture operations in the Valley.

NOTA contacted several blueberry growers in the Nambucca Valley but none have as yet replied to questions regarding conditions for migrant workers on their farms.

The NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner, Dr James Cockayne, stated in his 2024 report that across many areas of rural and regional NSW government workers are dealing with the unplanned pregnancies of temporary migrant women who had no access to antenatal care and lacked private healthcare options.

“It is falling to local communities, social support providers and NSW Government agencies to manage the costs and consequences when temporary migrant workers are disempowered, deceived or disengaged.

“Local civic, multicultural and religious organisations report being stretched by unpredicted demand,” he said.

Following Ms Macky’s speech, newly appointed councillor Ljubov Simson told NOTA, “It (modern slavery) is something that we as a council are concerned about and we are currently looking into finding ways to better support the temporary migrant population here in the Nambucca Valley.”

By Ned COWIE