Australia, Pacific cops to discuss regional deployments

Perth Now

2 days ago

Pacific police chiefs are scoping areas where additional assistance can be deployed as Australia helps scale up regional security responses by training local officers.
The first contingent of Pacific police training as part of the Pacific policing initiative is halfway through its six-month training and was recently deployed to Palau to assist in security for the Pacific Mini Games.
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner for the Pacific Nigel Ryan said Pacific Islands Forum nations were in talks about where security and peacekeeping forces could be deployed in the future.
Pacific police chiefs would meet in the coming weeks and there was an interest in the Australian Federal Police helping co-ordinate and assist responses, he said.
This could include Papua New Guinea for regional Bougainville elections in September or the Solomon Islands to scale up security ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in Honiara in September.
Palau had also expressed interest in a security scale-up for when it hosts the forum's leaders in 2026, Mr Ryan said.
"Hopefully, we'll have some clarity on that soon, but at this time, there are no discussions on actual locations," he told AAP.
"But the will is there to enable it to happen."
Australia helps train officers from across the Pacific at its Pinkenba hub in Brisbane.
A 73 per cent pass rate for a United Nations peacekeeping course was "unheard of" compared to the usual 25 per cent pass rate, Mr Ryan said as he spruiked the hub's success.
The peacekeeping course included 100 people from about 10 Pacific island nations.
"That's something that our Pacific colleagues have been asking for for a long time," Mr Ryan said.
But a class of 100 "was a pretty mean feat" unlikely to be replicated, he said.
He flagged the possibility of a smaller course of 50 people, as well as helping retrain people who have already passed, with re-accreditation required every two years.
Australia has made it clear there is no role for China when it comes to regional security, as Beijing strikes bilateral agreements with Pacific nations and increases its influence in the region.
China says it is willing to co-operate with other nations such as Australia on security and development in the Pacific.
Mr Ryan said it was about what Pacific partners wanted.
"I don't necessarily think it's about us," he said.
"I think we, Australia, we see ourselves as the primary partner of choice in relation to peace, security and stability in the region.
"But more importantly, the voices of the Pacific are quite clear that it's a Pacific family-first response to the security and stability of the region.
"I'm often in conversations with the collective police chiefs around the Pacific about their will to be able to provide for their own security and safety within the region."