Trouble has flared up again in an idyllic beach town reportedly overrun by hundreds of migrating fruit pickers.
A beachside drunken fight has been filmed amid mounting concerns over the ‘slum’ in Little Arrawarra on the NSW Mid North Coast.
An elderly couple filmed a pair of Vanuatu berry pickers fighting on the beach after a drink of wine and spirits.
Little Arrawarra, a village 30km north of Coffs Harbour, is a destination for surfers, caravanners, backpackers and visitors to the absolute waterfront holiday park.
A drunken fight breaks out on Arrawarra beach after fruit pickers were observed drinking alcohol. The berry pickers are housed in less than ideal accommodation in dongas on the holiday park
It’s considered a gem hidden among the area’s more populous townships, with a laid-back vibe, kangaroos hopping on the beach, and pristine surf.
But an influx of hundreds of berry pickers in recent years has left residents concerned that their piece of paradise is being destroyed.
Locals describe the Vanuatans as “lovely people” but say they are housed in squalid quarters with six or more adult males in a cramped slum with dangerously “sloppy” electricity.
They say the workers drink outside and sometimes get violent.
The fight filmed on the beach at Easter was one of many seen in recent years in the town, which has a permanent population of just 50 to 100 people.
A plastic storage tub serves as a makeshift enclosure for electrical wires on top of an exterior metal roof of a ‘donga’ structure with an outlet at the end
Last week, Coffs Harbor City Council inspected Arrawarra Holiday Park, part of which has been converted into accommodation for berry pickers, and told Daily Mail Australia it has an ongoing investigation into the park’s destination.
An electrician inspected the park over the weekend and his report with photographs submitted to the council claims there are unprotected electrical cables on metal roofs, live cables visible on the ground and unapproved electrical installations.
These include a plastic storage tub that serves as a makeshift enclosure for electrical wires atop an exterior metal roof of ‘donga’ construction with a power outlet at the far end.
Some angry locals claim their coastal paradise is being turned into a ‘slum’, but the worker housing provider has labeled the criticism as ‘lies and fabrication’.
Nathan Folkes accused locals of being biased against Pacific Islanders, who make up the bulk of the fruit pickers.
Beds in the ‘shanty’ enclosure where up to eight adult males sleep between long days of berry picking at Corindi on the road from Arrawarra on the NSW Mid North Coast
An electrician inspected and photographed the setup at Arrawarra Holiday Park and found electrical cables on metal roofs and ground to be potentially unsafe
Fruit pickers have been arriving from Vanuatu in recent weeks and hundreds more are expected to harvest the crops during the winter berry season in the coming weeks.
Daily Mail Australia has learned that up to 400 pickers ride the 17km bus to Corindi from around 4.45am daily, where Costa Berries has a 360 acre farm.
Last year, there were 37 daily entries and exits of pickers on minibuses from the city to and from Corindi.
The influx has led to numerous complaints about noisy early morning buses, piles of rubbish and aggressive drunken behavior by the workers towards women.
Photos show the area littered with empty bottles and the pickers’ accommodation, such as dongas and shipping containers, reportedly encroaching on their land and public areas.
Shipping containers, rubbish and noisy buses flocked to the holiday park that was once a haven for backpackers and surfers and is now home to hundreds of fruit pickers
Garbage in the creek at Little Arrawarra, which is stormed during the picking season when hundreds of workers fly in
Photos from previous picking years show bottles, cans and food wrappers discarded in sand dunes, creeks and around what is normally an orderly holiday park.
Some locals also say they fear losing access to the beach from their properties, as the holiday park with backpacker accommodation that has now become a fruit-picking town is on private land and has no public access unless someone gets a permit.
Operator Nathan Folkes told Daily Mail Australia that he granted permits with conditions and denied threatening anyone with cutting off access.
Described as a ‘slum’ by some residents, the holiday park is about to admit hundreds of seasonal berry pickers from Vanuatu
Little Arrawarra is a secret paradise on the NSW Mid North Coast where there has been an infiltration of fruit pickers in recent years, creating waste and pollution
Mr Folkes described the current controversy as ‘a mud fight’ and suggested that some local residents with expensive real estate were biased against Pacific Islanders.
Described on its @thebeacharrawarra Instagram page as ‘the epic absolute beachfront location’ and ‘our perfect little hidden gem by the sea’, the alleged ruin of Little Arrawarra was just ‘lies and fabrications’, Mr Folkes said.
“It’s been a very brutal witch hunt, those pictures… are all old,” he said, describing the fruit pickers as “beautiful people.”
“These are people, they work very hard, they are great people. They are building a future for their families and countries and our nation depends on them to support the farm.”
The operator of a business called Mojo Surf, Mr Folkes said one woman in Little Arrawarra in particular had ‘zero empathy’ and was only ‘concerned about her property prices’.
A local resident photographed this garbage can (left) over Easter weekend, full of empty beer bottles and rubbish, and the beach (right) and other areas are littered with bottles and cans every year the pickers come
Another resident who has lived in Little Arrawarra for more than a decade defended Mr Folkes, saying there had been ‘a lot of jumping around, but that’s not representative of this place’.
“It’s dilapidated, it’s nasty, but it’s being worked on,” she said.
“(Nathan Folkes) should be given the opportunity to pursue his dream of building an eco-beach resort.”
Mr Folkes said he had decided to build accommodation for fruit pickers when Covid meant his backpacker and surf school business dwindled.
‘The berry pickers appreciate the beauty of the location, they feel at home on the islands.
“It would be great to see a little more support from the government and other stakeholders for the Pacific Islanders.”
Drone footage captured last month shows numerous buses parked near Arrawarra Creek and dozens of shipping containers lined up nearby, and dongas to house the pickers.
Bottles and cans say the migrating fruit pickers litter the beach and creek
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