From deserted beaches to its detention centre, Papua New Guinea can be described as a country of contrasts.
Those are the words that surf photographer Joel Coleman used in the wake of his recent visit to Manus Island.
His stunning photographs are in stark contrast to the images we’ve previously seen of life in and around the immigration detention centre on Manus Island.
Listen: Stephanie Anderson speaks with Joel Coleman.
The immigration facility has been at the centre of multiple controversies over recent months, including the fatal riots which killed an Iranian detainee in February 2014.
Although he stressed the purpose of the trip was to surf, not visit the facility, the Sydney-based photographer got a rare glimpse into the lives of workers at the centre, which has been shielded from the media since its operations began.
And unlike the media, Mr Coleman appears to have gained easy access to the centre.
Mr Coleman told SBS that he and his fellow travellers had anchored offshore from the immigration centre, based in a former World War II naval base, and were invited in for drinks at the officers’ bar by staff one evening.
“That took us through the construction works that are going there and into the naval base facility itself,” he said.
“We did not access the immigration processing facility. We didn’t ask to. It’s not something we were there to do at all.”
Mr Coleman said he had a camera, but was asked not to take photos of the camp.
"I am sure there are journalists and human rights activists that have been doing their utmost to gain access to the facility without success. All we did was show up with a bunch of surfers, say hello and we were invited in. I was however requested to not take any photographs, a request with which I complied."
He described the set-up as similar to that of a well-built mining camp – “donga shed style accommodation” that was expanding at a rapid rate.
“The boat had been there a year previously - the amount of infrastructure and work that had been completed in those 12 months was really what had blown everyone away, the sheer volume and scale of what they were building there,” he said.
Mr Coleman met with some Australian staff working at the detention centre, saying that many of them hadn’t been given the chance to explore the island.
He said the staff he spoke to had to get permission to go out and explore the island, which he described as “some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life”.
“We were, as a group of people, just totally blown away by the place,” he said.
“They were saying they’d seen nothing like that. They’d been to one beach… and they had to organise permission to do that, to leave the base.”
Mr Coleman also noted the “danger money” that some workers were receiving, stating that he’s never had any issues travelling throughout the coastal regions of PNG.
“It is incredibly beautiful,” he said.
“The village life out on the island that I’ve seen, the people actually live quite a good life.”
His comments and photographs are in stark contrast to the reported condition inside the immigration camp, which has been described as the scene of mistreatment and extensive self-harm.
A story by SBS’ Dateline in March detailed a string of allegations from workers inside the Nauru and Manus Island detention centres, including a shortage of underwear and sanitary items for female detainees.
More recently, a Senate inquiry issued a report stating that the Australian government was failing in its duty to protect asylum seekers on PNG.
The 156-page report called on the Australian Government to “acknowledge its responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights” of detainees at the Manus Island facility.
“Even if Australia did not exercise 'effective control', Australia would still be liable for breaches of international human rights law that occur in respect of asylum seekers held at Manus Island under the doctrine of joint liability,” the report states.
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