Our Pasifika Australia Day acknowledged the contribution of every Australian and allowed us to Reflect, Respect and Celebrate the things we love about this beautiful country: democracy, freedom and most importantly, the People.

We were blessed to have Pasifika community leaders come to celebrate the 2023 Pasifika Australia Day with us yesterday at the Ukrainian Hall, Ardeer, funded by the National Australia Day Council.

Our guests include our State MP for Melton, the Honorable Steve Mcghie, President of the Niue Community, Emma Kamupala, Marie Pewhairangi representing the Maori community, James Henry, President of the Cook Islands Community Victoria, Timo Anitonia, President of the Rarotongan Community Association, Sheraz Sahib, Secretary of the Fiji Islamic Community society of Victoria and elders of our Fijian community.

Performances include the BULA Meke group (Fiji), Tama Tatau (Samoa), Poe Inano (Cook Islands), Amelia Kaufana (Tonga) and the one and only Pasifika Velvet Voice, Mr Tom Aiono.

We also had the opportunity to nominate and award our dedicated volunteers who have gone above and beyond in their volunteer work, for the benefit of our community.

Congratulations to our Award winners. The Community Award winners are:

Citizen of the Year award-Ms Sylvia Coombe

Community Achievement Award-Mr Jotame Ratabua.

Emerging Star-Ms Akanisi Tora

Youth of the Year award-Ms Jasmine Elder

Pasifika Top Supporter Award-Mr Timo Anitonia

There were lots of Australia Day competitions and congratulations to all our winners for sharing with us their experiences and how they have contributed to this beautiful country, Australia.

Thank You to our volunteers who went above and beyond to ensure that the event was a success.

Vinaka Vakalevu

Events Committee