Brisbane’s vibrant Tongan Community have emerged with the soft launch of the world’s newest Tongan online media source, Pasifika TV & Radio.

9 March 2020 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: A sold out cinema, ngatu carpet, dancing and a traditional Tongan string band were just some of the features that saw Brizvegas launch the premiere of the long-awaited Tongan film “The Legend of Baron To‘a”. Polywood stars Talia‘uli Lātūkefu and Sione Tui were amongst the cast and crew who lined the ngatu carpet at Event Cinemas Browns Plains as the Brisbane Tongan Community launched the newest Tongan film to hit Australian cinemas with cheer

9 March 2020 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: The Brisbane Tongan Community were guests of the Royal Commonwealth Society of Queensland attending a Commonwealth Day Royal Luncheon at Queensland’s historic Parliament House in Brisbane City. Hosted by Gary Hardgrave MP, the Commonwealth Day Luncheon was attended by a varied cross-section of Queensland society, including representatives of the Brisbane Tongan Community as the local diplomatic corps and multicultural community leaders from C

24 February 2020 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: Queensland Health’s ‘Good Start’ program is offering the Brisbane Tongan Community, as well as Māori and Pacific Islanders, the chance to make a fresh start in their health and well-being. Multicultural Health Coach, Tēvita Peu, spoke exclusively to Brisbane’s Voice of Tonga radio program about the ways the Brisbane Tongan Community can improve the overall health and well-being of families within a Tongan cultural context. Speaking on air

8 February 2020 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: History was made and classrooms were packed as Brisbane’s Tongan community welcomed the long-anticipated QLD Tongan Language School at Griffith University Logan Campus. A team of volunteer teachers, members of the Brisbane Tongan Community executive, media and a mixture of pre-school, primary and secondary school students in addition to a keen open adult class converged on campus to study a 12-month course in Lea Faka-Tonga the Tongan Lang

20 December 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: Brisbane’s Tongan Kava Clubs are celebrating the Christmas spirit with the Australian Government’s pilot programme being launched on 17 December 2019 allowing an increase of 2kg to 4kg of kava permitted per adult entering the border. It served as a double-blessing for the Sia Melie Kava Club of Moorooka on Friday night, who were recipients of a $800 grant from the Brisbane City Council Moorooka Ward, after successful negotiations by the B

26 January 2020 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: Two dedicated members of Brisbane’s Tongan Community were honoured today during the Local Heroes Australia Day Community Service Awards at the Oxley Bowls Club on Brisbane’s west side. An elite group of deserving recipients were the result of a vigorous selection process aimed at recognising the ongoing dedication and exceptional contribution of volunteers in various fields and industries across Brisbane. Rev Maile Molitika and Mrs Mele Ng

22 November 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: “For My Father’s Kingdom,” the first Tongan film to be screened in a Brisbane cinema was premiered in Brisbane to a sold out crowd on Friday night. The Brisbane Tongan Community along with some non-Tongans converged on the Event Cinemas Loganholme to witness this real life documentary of Saia Mafile‘o and his family as told through the lived experience of each family member. When asked what she wanted the audience to take away from the do

22 November 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: The Brisbane Tongan Community have been saddened to learn of the passing of Bill Waterhouse, aged 97. Bill Waterhouse was the first Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Tonga to Sydney, Australia. His diplomatic post arose from a friendship at Sydney University’s Law School with His Majesty Late King Tāufa‘āhau Tupou IV. He has also received several awards from the Kingdom of Tonga, including the Grand Cross of Queen Sālote, from His Majesty

16 November 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: The Brisbane Tongan Community’s highly anticipated Queensland Tongan Language School had its launch on Saturday in a celebration complete with food, family and fun. Dubbed a ‘soft launch’ by the event organisers, the Park Uniting Church Tongan Congregation at Highgate Hill played host to councillors, university representatives, community leaders, teachers and future students for a morning that consisted of formalities and family-centred a

4 November 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: The first female local government member of Tongan heritage, Councillor Koliana Winchester (neé Schaaf) of the Moreton Bay Regional Council’s Division 6, had an extremely productive meeting with members of the steering committee of the Brisbane Tongan Community Inc (“BTC”) in Redcliffe. Committee members in attendance raised a range of community initiatives with Cr Winchester, including projects targeting Tongan language and culture, bilin

24 October 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: MP for Ha‘apai 13, Veivosa Light of Life Taka has led a delegation from Foa in the Ha‘apai Island Group to meet with the diaspora to seek closer bilateral ties with the Brisbane Tongan Community, in particular Foa islanders or those with family connections to Foa. Accompanying Veivosa Taka were five town officers from Foa Island, namely Viliami Tukutau from the village of Lotofoa, Vaea Ta‘ufo‘ou from Faleloa, Sione Palu from Ha‘afakahenga,

27 July 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: The current reigning Miss Pacific Islands Australia Plus has proven her critics that size does matter. Twenty-seven year old Brisbane-Tongan girl Sulieti Nuku went above and beyond to showcase that physical beauty is more than the image portrayed in popular culture and more about one’s identity and being comfortable in one’s own skin. Miss Sulieti Nuku represented her home-city of Brisbane together with the support of Brisbane’s Mamana Tongan

12 September 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: The Brisbane Tongan Community have been saddened by the passing of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga, Hon. Samuela 'Akilisi Pōhiva in Auckland, New Zealand, aged 78. In a social media post BTC Media stated “It is with a heavy heart that the Brisbane Tongan Community mourns the passing of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga, Hon. Samuela 'Akilisi Pōhiva.” Hon. Pōhiva was the 15th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga and

15 September 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: Tongan culture and flare were on full display this weekend as Her Royal Highness Princess Lātūfuipeka Halaevalu Mata‘aho Tuku‘aho attended a busy weekend of events with the Brisbane Tongan Community. Centred around the Mamana Tongan Academy of Performing Arts, Her Royal Highness, who is the esteemed High Commissioner of the Kingdom of Tonga to Australia with residency in Canberra, never missed a beat, commencing the visit with an exclusi

7 July 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: An icon of Brisbane Tongan aviation has come to an end with the closure of Gil Layt’s Flying School after 44 years of operation. Gil Layt’s Flying School first opened its doors at Archerfield Aerodrome on Brisbane’s southside on 24 March 1975 and quickly became a booming centre for future pilots from throughout Queensland as well as the Asia Pacific. Owned by Australian residents Gil and Susan Layt, the business has a celebrated legacy of trai

24 June 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: A new and exciting Tongan business has opened in the Sunshine State offering the best quality imported seafood from the Kingdom of Tonga to the local Queensland market. Pacific Sunrise Fishing Brisbane is owned and operated by Tongan entrepeneur, Kristian Palu, who started the business to offer high-quality fish from the Kingdom of Tonga to patrons in both Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. The new business is already proving popular with a rus

13 May 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: Cr Kim Marx of the Brisbane City Council’s Runward Ward had an extremely productive meeting with the steering committee of the Brisbane Tongan Community in Sunnybank. Cr Kim Marx, who was born in New Zealand, has a strong affinity with the Pasifika community and has an ongoing history of engagement with the vibrant Pasifika community emerging in the Runcorn Ward and surrounding suburbs. Committee members in attendance raised a range of initiat

4 May 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: The Australian Government conducted a consultation process through a Pilot Program to ease restrictions on the importation of kava for personal use into Australia. The Pilot Program is a result of comments made by the Australia Prime Minister, Hon. Scott Morrison, during a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Hon. Charlot Salawi Tabimasmas in Port Vila, Vanuatu on 16 January 2019. “We have agreed that we would be working t

25 April 2019 Brisbane, AUSTRALIA: ANZAC Day is commemorated annually in Brisbane and like most years, the Tongan community is actively involved. Many are not fully aware of the Tongan war effort in the two World Wars, nor the contribution of Tongans to the Armed Services of Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America or the Kingdom of Tonga. When Great Britain declared war on Germany a call was sent out to all parts of the British Empire to support their efforts to