Australia is backing the initiative by committing around $400m in funding over five years
The next stage of the Pacific Policing Initiative (PPI) has been launched with the official opening of the Pinkenba Hub in Brisbane, announced Attorney General Mark Dreyfus.
The PPI is a Pacific-led and Australia-supported initiative that seeks to strengthen peace and security across the region. Its third pillar provides for a policing development and coordination hub.
The Pinkenba Hub’s launch unites police ministers and commissioners from across the Pacific, according to the attorney-general’s media release.
The new hub, staffed by the Australian federal police and Pacific police, seeks to support the functioning of the PPI’s Regional Centres of Excellence and Pacific Police Support Group through housing and training Pacific participants.
The PPI has already used the hub to train 33 police officers from 11 Pacific countries as members of the Pacific Police Support Group. Last October, these officers were deployed to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Samoa.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced in Tonga that Australia is supporting the PPI through committing about $400m in funding over a five-year period. The financing aims to ensure that the initiative fulfills the needs of Pacific countries.
“This is about Pacific security, delivered by the Pacific, in support of Pacific sovereignty,” the attorney-general’s media release said. The new hub seeks to serve as a “testament to our shared vision, values and aspirations,” the media release added.
