Join our Campaign for a “One Moana Community Action Plan”

Written By VR_Collective

“The One Moana Community Action Plan brings our collective strategies and culturally safe solutions to the table. Without my community’s direct input, nothing changes — and we demand equity: the same recognition and resourcing given to VACAP must now be extended to Pasifika communities.” — Dr Marion Muliaumaseali’i, Executive Founding Director, Village Response Collective

Why We’re Campaigning

The Village Response Collective is launching a grassroots campaign to petition the Government for a dedicated Pasifika Action Plan, similar in scope and intent to the Victorian African Community Action Plan (VACAP).

Our Pasifika community carries immense strength and rich cultural heritage. Yet public perceptions are too often shaped by punitive measures and statistics generated by a system ill-equipped to understand or respond to the needs of a diverse and rapidly growing Pasifika population.

The Current Reality

In Victoria, there are approximately 79,000 people of Pasifika ancestry, with about 28,000 born in Pasifika nations. The largest Pasifika communities live in:

  • Casey-11,303

  • Wyndham-10,684

  • Hume-5,413

  • Melton-4,956

  • Brimbank-4,215

While most Pasifika families live in Melbourne’s metropolitan areas, many are also spread across regional Victoria. Although precise regional numbers are less readily available in government reporting, community experience tells us these voices are just as vital — underscoring the importance of taking our listening tour across both metro and regional areas.

Despite our strengths, we are over-represented in concerning areas:

  • Youth detention: Pasifika youth make up 8.5% of the detention population, while being a much smaller share of Victoria’s population.

  • Offending rates: From 2010–2020, offending incidents by people born in New Zealand and Pacific Islands rose by 53%, compared to a 36% rise in the general Victorian population.

These figures highlight deep systemic issues and the urgent need for a dedicated Action Plan.

Beyond Siloed Systems

The current system divides Pasifika communities through funding criteria that frame solutions in siloed and fragmented ways. Instead of enabling collective strategies, these frameworks limit communities to individualised, short-term approaches that do not reflect our cultural strengths or communal ways of being.

Pasifika academic Epeli Hau‘ofa challenged these limitations in his influential essay Our Sea of Islands (1993), arguing that Western worldviews often reduce the Pacific to “islands in a far sea” defined by dependency, isolation, and constraint. In contrast, Hau‘ofa reminds us that Pasifika worldviews are expansive — seeing the ocean as a connector, not a barrier — and that our strength lies in relationships, shared identity, and collective resilience.

This expansive vision is exactly what One Moana (One Ocean) is premised on. It reflects the understanding that our communities are not isolated, but deeply interconnected, and that solutions must be designed to honour that collective reality.

Our Campaign Goals

  • Build a community-led campaign team that reflects the breadth of our Pasifika voices.

    • Campaign Coordination Team

    • Steering Committee - formed by key elders and leaders in the Pasifika community -Metro & Regional

    • Regional Hub Champions

  • Hold a listening tour to connect with Pasifika communities across metropolitan and regional Victoria, ensuring grassroots voices shape the agenda.

  • Meet with Ministers and local councils to garner support, build alliances, and elevate our priorities.

  • Table our concerns in Parliament to secure a Government-backed Pasifika Action Plan.

  • Join Us

We invite community members, allies, and decision-makers to stand with us, add their voices, and help shape a fairer future for Pasifika communities in Victoria.

Together, we can build a plan that honours our culture, responds to our needs, and strengthens the social fabric of Victoria.

Register here for campaign roles, volunteering, future events and collaboration opportunities.

Contact the team on: info@villageresponsecollective.com.au

References

  • Victorian Government (2023). Pasifika Community Profile. Retrieved from vic.gov.au

  • ABC Pacific Beat (2024). Pasifika youth over-representation in detention. Retrieved from abc.net.au

  • WestJustice (2020). Pasifika Youth Justice Report. Retrieved from westjustice.org.au

  • Victorian Government (2024). Victorian Government Report on Multicultural Affairs 2023–24. Retrieved from vic.gov.au

  • Hau‘ofa, E. (1993). Our Sea of Islands. In E. Waddell, V. Naidu & E. Hau‘ofa (Eds.), A New Oceania: Rediscovering Our Sea of Islands (pp. 2–16). Suva: University of the South Pacific.

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