Claims that migrant workers are being exploited on Coffs Harbour and Nambucca Valley berry farms are nothing new, but they have collided this week with a long-awaited parliamentary report and a public stoush between the state’s Anti-slavery Commissioner and NSW Nationals leader Gurmesh Singh, who is demanding an apology.
The ABC’s Four Corners program aired the second part of its “Duped” investigation this week, focusing on claims of modern slavery on North Coast berry and fruit farms and child exploitation overseas. NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner James Cockayne featured prominently in the program.
A long-awaited parliamentary report
The Four Corners program’s release on Monday appeared times to coincide with the NSW Parliament Modern Slavery Committee’s long-awaited report, released on Thursday, 6 August, examining the risks faced by temporary migrant workers in rural and regional NSW. The inquiry was commissioned in 2024, with most of its evidence and submissions received in early 2025. Chaired by Dr Joe McGirr, the committee drew on months of hearings, including historical accounts of overcrowded, substandard employer-provided housing and workers paid well below award rates.
The report calls on the NSW Government to implement a labour hire licensing scheme overseen by a dedicated authority, a recommendation the government has considered since 2023 without reaching agreement with other states. Queensland, the Northern Territory and Tasmania pulled out of a proposed harmonised national scheme in October 2025. Berries Australia was among the organisations that called for such a scheme in its submission to the inquiry.
Minister for Industrial Relations and Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis said the government welcomed the committee’s findings.
“We welcome the release of the Modern Slavery Committee’s parliamentary report into modern slavery risks in NSW and thank the committee chaired by Dr. Joe McGirr for their hard work to help end the exploitation of workers in NSW,” Ms Cotsis said.
“The allegations of modern slavery and the conditions workers are living and working in across Coffs Harbour and the Nambucca Valley are deeply concerning, no one should suffer working and living in these appalling conditions.
“The NSW Government has zero tolerance for human exploitation. Every worker deserves fair pay, access to their entitlements, and to work and live in a safe environment.”
“While the NSW Government’s preference is for a nationally harmonised labour hire licencing scheme, we are considering all options to end the exploitation of workers in this state including a NSW scheme,” Ms Cotsis said.
The government has directed SafeWork NSW to establish a memorandum of understanding with the Anti-slavery Commissioner and is developing a Labour Hire Code of Practice. SafeWork NSW has conducted a number of unannounced inspections of berry farms across the region and says it will continue proactive compliance activity alongside new information sharing arrangements with Commonwealth regulators and law enforcement agencies.
The Coffs Coast and the Riverina have long been considered hotspots for exploitation, with earlier investigations documenting backpackers paid as little as $3 an hour. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s most recent horticulture campaign, which targeted operators already suspected of underpayment rather than a random sample of the industry, recorded a non-compliance rate of 61 per cent around Coffs Harbour and Grafton among those inspected, and 72 per cent in the Riverina.
Commissioner’s own claims questioned
The Anti-slavery Commissioner’s second submission to the parliamentary inquiry, made public on Monday, has become a flashpoint in its own right. Mr Cockayne alleged “interlocking patterns of conduct by labour hire companies and syndicates, berry farm operators and owners, and buying entities, that have produced systemic labour exploitation in the Coffs Harbour and Nambucca Valley region.”
The submission did not cite specific evidence for many of the central claims. An anonymous informant quoted in the submission said industry insiders were too scared to speak up.
“We all know there is a system of labour exploitation by dodgy labour hire companies that some berry producers rely on. But we are too scared to name it. And government agencies just can’t see what is right in front of them,” the informant said.
This is directly contradicted by the industry’s own voice, Berries Australia, which explained in its own February 2025 submission that the need to handpick berries makes the industry highly reliant on a mobile, temporary workforce, and acknowledged the significant concerns and vulnerabilities faced by temporary migrant workers in the industry.
“Berries Australia acknowledges the concerns raised relating to modern slavery with respect to temporary migrant workers and we have no tolerance for mistreatment of any kind,” Berries Australia stated in its submission.
“It is our contention that the single biggest contributor to modern slavery practices in the sector are dodgy labour hire companies.
“Berries Australia has publicly advocated for national labour hire licensing since its formation in 2018.
“This position was developed after clear evidence that the labour hire licensing scheme had made a significant impact on improving worker conditions in the Queensland berry industry.”
Berries Australia also acknowledged racial bias in hiring practices, the phoenixing of labour hire operators, and the challenge of growers paying the correct rate only for labour hire operators to not pass on the correct pay to workers.
Singh personally accused of intimidating whistleblowers
Despite the framing and rhetoric used by the Four Corners program, Mr Cockayne conceded the concerns were far from new, and implicated the Member for Coffs Harbour in the entrenchment of the issue.
“This is an allegation that goes back many, many years, and actors such as Mr Singh have been on notice for a long time,” he said.
Mr Cockayne alleged Mr Singh commanded “unparalleled influence” in Coffs Harbour and the Nambucca Valley, and pointed to “intimidation and harassment” of whistleblowers and the “deliberate cultivation of political influence within local and other political bodies” as reasons the alleged exploitation had continued unchecked.
Mr Singh categorically rejected Mr Cockayne’s claims, describing them as a “political statement” and calling on the commissioner to apologise.
“I categorically reject the political statement made by a senior NSW public servant this morning. No evidence was provided to back up his unsubstantiated slur,” Mr Singh said.
“Throughout my time in the industry, and in the eight years since, I have worked tirelessly to weed out bad actors, and support strong regulation of labour hire to better protect employees and farmers.”
Mr Singh, whose family has farmed blueberries and macadamias on the North Coast over successive generations, spent six years as chairman and founding director of Coffs Harbour co-operative Oz Group before entering NSW Parliament in 2019, and also served as vice president of the Australian Blueberry Growers Association, which is part of Berries Australia.
He said Mr Cockayne had not raised the allegations with him directly despite having his phone number.
“I welcome his phone call and apology,” he said.
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