News that Netflix announced it had appointed an Australian Director of Local Originals, Que Minh Luu, was very exciting. But the announcement of ‘Byron Baes’ in April 2021, the first Netflix Aussie original, was met with immediate ridicule and backlash. Most vocal in their disapproval of the show? The Byron Bay community. Locals have staged protests, denied filming requests, and launched petitions in an effort to stop production. Why has there been so much controversy around Netflix’s Byron Baes?
Read on for your cheat sheet to understanding the backlash…
UPDATE: 23 February 2022. The trailer for the show has landed, and at first glance it looks like the initial fears from the local Byron Bay community have been realised. What do you think?
What’s the show going to be about?
Long story short: Byron Baes is a ‘docu-soap’ following a bunch of influencers living in Byron Bay. Think of it as an Australian-based version of Bling Empire or The Hills. Netflix is also calling the show a “love letter to Byron Bay.”
However, there has been some conflicting messaging about the show from Netflix itself. The launch post on Instagram – which was panned by most users – suggested the show would focus on “hot Instagrammers” with a “good follower count… in want of a beach backdrop”, who must “survive summer with a collab going wrong.”
But when that series teaser started to cop some heat, Minh Luu described the show to Junkee* as one that will “build a connection between the people we meet in the show, and ourselves as the audience… [It will] lift the curtain on influencer culture to understand the motivation, the desire, and the pain behind this very human need to be loved”.
Each paints Byron Baes in a very different light – and given filming doesn’t start until May, we don’t know which one is most accurate.
*Junkee owns Junkee Studio, which runs all of Netflix Australia’s social media and content.
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Who is going to be on the show?
The cast list for the show includes influencers and ‘personalities’, including some who have only recently moved to Byron Bay. The confirmed cast members include: former Love Island contestant Elias Chigros; former Bachelorette contestant Nathan Favro; Hannah Brauer; couple David Frim and Saskia Wotton; Jade Kevin Foster; Simba Ali; Kyle Sandiland’s former assistant Alex Reid; and sisters Jess and Lauren Johansen-Bell.
An original leaked list in May 2021 also named musician Billy Otto as being on the cast – but he publicly confirmed that he will not be on the show, citing issues with how production wanted to portray Byron Bay ni the show.
Why is there backlash from Australians in general?
The initial show description from Netflix – that emphasised hot influencers and low stakes drama – felt like yet another ‘trash tv’ concept to many. Australia already has plenty of those (MAFS, anyone?) It felt like a letdown from the streaming platform’s original commitment to original Australian content, which some hoped would be scripted drama and elevated storytelling as opposed to another reality TV show.
There has also been an oversaturation of Byron Bay in the media recently, with Chris Hemsworth and his A-list celebrity pals Matt Damon, Zac Efron, Mark Wahlberg and the cast of Nicole Kidman’s 9 Perfect Strangers all living and working there throughout 2020. The controversy around Byron Baes has also been fuelled by the fact that many ‘everyday’ Aussies are tired of hearing about the supposedly glamorous Byron life.
Why is there backlash from the Byron Bay community?
But it’s locals who are really driving the controversy surrounding Byron Baes. The community is campaigning heavily to boycott the show – one petition asking the Byron Local Council to retract Netflix’s filming permits has over 9000 signatures.
The community’s disapproval breaks down into three main arguments:
- Byron Bay is already suffering a serious housing crisis. Over the years the town’s reputation has shifted from being a relaxed coastal community to a luxe tourism destination. This attracted lots of extremely wealthy people to buy property in the area, pushing the prices incredibly high. The median house price in 2020 was $1.175m, a 40% increase in just 12 months, with rents increasing accordingly.
This, combined with the fact that many Byron properties are converted into AirBnB and holiday rentals, is pricing many locals out of the area. Byron Bay has long had a high rate of homelessness and the fresh attention in the past couple of years had made the problem worse.
Byron locals fear that being positioned as the ‘glam’ beach backdrop in a show that will have a global audience will attract more of the same wealthy investors and holidaymakers, making the housing crisis and wealth gap much worse. - They feel that the original description of Byron Baes, the one focusing on “fights, flings and heartbreaks” of social media influencers, makes Byron the butt of the joke.
With the cast yet to be announced, locals are nervous that they will be represented by vacuous, image-obsessed influencers. There is already tension between the growing influencer-community who’ve moved to Byron Bay for a lifestyle change (and #content), and ‘born and raised’ locals. - The community is concerned that a big production team, plus an increase in tourism after the show is released, will accelerate the environmental damage already affecting the Byron coast. The main issue is coastal erosion.
Their petition directly calls on NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to factor in the “environmental impacts of filming proposals and [place] appropriate conditions on filming approvals.
The Arakwal Corporation, a body representing the Bundjalung people as the traditional owners of the land of Byron Bay, has released a statement saying they rejected a donation from Netflix and Eureka Productions (which supposedly wasn’t very big either!) and that they stand with the community in opposition to the Byron Baes series.
I enjoy Byron, Wategos is a good beach, it’s a fun time but equally let’s not pretend it’s not what it is. The whole place thrives on the image it curates and the people it gasses up to create it for others to aspire to. If you don’t like what you see in the mirror..!
— Eliza Barr (@ElizaJBarr) April 19, 2021
Why are some people criticising the response from Byron Bay?
While some of the complaints may be valid, Netflix is not necessarily responsible for the issues plaguing Byron right now. Housing and homelessness are not new issues in Byron Bay – one Australia has been talking about for the last five years at least.
Some would argue that the same people who are now protesting Netflix have played a key role in creating the image of Byron that is crushing the community. The owners of high-profile businesses including fashion label Spell, luxury accommodation Rae’s, and cafe The Byron Bay General Store have joined the boycott – but they have also helped sell the Byron dream in the first place. It’s luxe, relaxed, beachy, very blonde and very white. It feels contradictory for them to protest Netflix promoting that very same vision.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald ($) Netflix is planning to keep the production team to a maximum of 10 people at any given time, to minimise the disruption and impact to the local community.
So, what happens next?
Nick O’Donnell, Netflix Australia’s Director of Public Policy, has reportedly flown for ‘crisis talks’ about the Byron Baes controversy with the mayors of Byron Shire and Ballina Shire.
Production is due to start in May, but there have been no official casting announcements. High profile Byron influencers, including Ruby Tuesday, have been a vocal part of the backlash, so it’s possible that Netflix may pivot the direction of the series. Rumours that the first cast members will be local business owners Kathy and Ralph Brauer could be a sign of this shift.
The show will be available to stream from 9 March, so you’ll be able to make your final judgments then…
