One Moana: 2026 Election Priorities

Three commitments

COMMIT. Recognise and partner with One Moana as Victoria's community-owned statewide Pasifika Engagement Framework.

INVEST. Commit $3 million over three years to establish and embed the Framework, with separately funded implementation streams.

CONNECT. Create an enduring cross-government relationship so Pasifika-facing policy, programs and investment connect to community priorities and evidence.

Why now

Victoria's Pasifika population is growing and increasingly visible across the state's economy, culture, sport, education, faith, business and public life. Yet Pasifika issues are often addressed through separate programs, portfolios and short-term consultations. One Moana creates the connective infrastructure across them.

One framework. Three commitments. One Moana.

1. COMMIT: Recognise and partner with One Moana as Victoria's statewide Pasifika Engagement Framework

Pasifika communities need an enduring mechanism for engagement that does not disappear when a consultation, grant or individual program ends. One Moana provides that infrastructure while retaining community ownership.

What this enables

- A consistent statewide pathway for Pasifika communities to identify and communicate priorities.

- Community knowledge and cultural advice to be retained and built upon rather than repeatedly collected.

- Engagement across portfolios, recognising that youth, justice, health, employment, settlement, education and wellbeing are interconnected.

- Evidence and priorities generated through the Framework to inform the future One Moana Community Action Plan (OMCAP).

- A clear relationship between government and Pasifika representative and operational infrastructure.

Election commitment: Formally recognise and partner with One Moana as a community-owned statewide Pasifika Engagement Framework.

What One Moana is not

One Moana does not replace existing Pasifika organisations, multicultural organisations or government services. It does not seek to duplicate existing programs. Its role is to connect the ecosystem, strengthen community voice and evidence, identify gaps and support more coherent investment.

Community-owned, government-connected

UPCOV provides representative Pasifika leadership across 11 Pasifika nations. VRC provides the operational, engagement, evidence and policy capability required to activate the Framework. This creates a community-owned mechanism capable of working with government while remaining grounded in Pasifika communities.

2. INVEST: $3 million over three years to establish and embed the statewide Framework

The investment establishes the infrastructure required for One Moana to operate statewide. It is not a single program grant. It funds the people, community participation, governance, evidence systems, regional engagement and operating capacity required for an enduring framework.

Implementation is separate

Where needs are already known, One Moana should be able to move from engagement into community-led implementation without waiting for the full OMCAP to be completed. These implementation streams would be separately scoped and funded.

Victorian precedent

Victoria has previously used staged investment to establish and expand Pasifika-specific infrastructure. Le Mana began as a targeted pilot, expanded geographically as reach and demand grew, and has received investment through successive budgets. One Moana applies a similar principle at a different level: establish the statewide infrastructure, demonstrate value, then scale and fund implementation priorities over time.

Election commitment: Commit $3 million over three years to establish and embed One Moana, with additional investment in community-led implementation priorities identified through the Framework.

3. CONNECT: Connect government policy, programs and investment affecting Pasifika communities

Pasifika communities are affected by decisions made across multiple departments and funded organisations. One Moana creates a community-owned point of connection so those investments can be better informed by cultural knowledge, community priorities and retained evidence.

The Connect function

- Community engagement and identification of who is being reached and who is being missed.

- Cultural advice, governance and co-design where policy or programs are intended to benefit Pasifika communities.

- Coordination across initiatives so communities are not repeatedly consulted without continuity.

- Evidence retention, evaluation and translation of community knowledge into policy and investment decisions.

- Identification of service and investment gaps where Pasifika-led responses are required.

- Over time, stronger accountability for how Pasifika-facing investment connects to community-defined outcomes.

Election commitment: Establish an enduring cross-government relationship with One Moana so policy, programs and investment affecting Pasifika communities can be better connected to community priorities, cultural knowledge, evidence and evaluation.

Where this leads

Connect communities. Engage. Build evidence. Identify priorities. Implement. Evaluate.

The evidence and priorities generated through this cycle will progressively build the One Moana Community Action Plan (OMCAP), while allowing known priorities to move into implementation sooner.

Our invitation to all parties

UPCOV and VRC invite all parties seeking to form the next Victorian Government to meet with One Moana and provide a written response to these three commitments.

One framework. Three commitments. One Moana.

COMMIT. INVEST. CONNECT.

One Ocean, Many Voices.