A Sudden Policy Shift Raises Questions
The Victorian Government announced on 13/11/25 that they will be introducing harsher sentencing for minors involved in violent offences. This has raised significant questions across the justice and social sectors. One of the clearest questions is: who was consulted in the development of this reform?
For clarity, Pasifika is the umbrella term VRC’s uses to refer to communities of Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian heritage living in Victoria and across Australia.
For Pasifika families, who already experience disproportionate contact with youth justice, this announcement feels abrupt. Without transparent engagement or visible consultation, the reforms risk appearing as a knee-jerk response rather than a culturally informed, prevention-first strategy. Reform designed about Pasifika communities, without clear evidence of engagement with them, signals a potential blind spot.
Existing Cultural Frameworks Were Already Designed and Delivered
As the architect and principal researcher of both the Pasifika Reintegration Pathway (2020/21) and the Village Response Plan(2020/21), I know that comprehensive, culturally grounded frameworks already exist and were formally delivered to government.
These frameworks provide:
Culturally anchored pathways
Relationally attuned prevention logic
Identity and belonging foundations
Family-centred supports
Transitions, rehabilitation and reintegration planning
The absence of these frameworks from the current reform conversation raises an important question:
If culturally grounded solutions were already available, why were they not engaged before the announcement of these reforms?
The Village Response Plan: A Prevention Architecture Ready to Implement
The Village Response Plan (VRP) provides the cultural and community infrastructure required to prevent harm before it escalates. It includes:
Cultural governance structures
Early-warning indicators
Escalation pathways
Youth navigation
Family mobilisation
Relational accountability
Culturally safe community engagement
Together, the VRP and the Reintegration Pathway form a complete Prevention → Intervention → Reintegration continuum.
Government does not need to build this from scratch, it already exists!
A Risk of Reactive Policy
When major reforms are announced without clarity on whether Pasifika (Polynesian, Melanesian, Micronesian) communities were included in meaningful consultation, the reforms risk being perceived as reactive rather than grounded in cultural intelligence or prevention logic. Given the rising cost of youth detention, and the disproportionality experienced by Pasifika young people, consultation cannot be optional.
A Constructive Path Forward
The Village Response Collective calls for transparency and partnership. We urge the Victorian Government to:
Clarify which communities and experts were consulted before announcing these reforms.
Engage Pasifika communities immediately.
Integrate the Village Response Plan as the primary prevention model.
Implement the Pasifika Reintegration Pathway (2020/21).
Establish a Pacific Youth Justice Prevention Partnership.
Pasifika communities are not asking for softer sentencing, we are asking for better policy, grounded in cultural intelligence, relational logic and evidence.
We stand ready to partner.
Dr Marion Muliaumasealii