Australia will step up its support to fight trans-national drug trafficking flowing through the Pacific, with a $600 million package.
Anthony Albanese announced the new investment at the Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, which aims to stop the contraband arriving in Australia.
The increase in drug flow across the Pacific is a huge problem in several countries: linked to increased gang activity in Samoa and Tonga, and a sharp rise in the HIV rate in Fiji.
Heightened activity is showing up in Australian Federal Police interventions of narcotics in the region.
In 2025, about 4.6 tonnes of illicit drugs were seized by local and international law enforcement, the Australian Federal Police reported.
In the first five months of this year, 17 tonnes have been picked up - mostly cocaine.
The new package - which will be opt-in for Pacific countries - will include enhanced aerial surveillance, and police and border training.
"Drug trafficking is having a devastating impact on Pacific communities," Pacific Minister Pat Conroy said.
"This initiative responds to the calls of regional leaders to do more, and to step up regional coordination to address this scourge."
The $600 million will be spent over the next 10 years.
On Wednesday, leaders in Palau will consider a new "Waqa Moana" partnership, which builds on the growing Australia-led security infrastructure in the region.
Australia believes a lack of co-ordination between Pacific nations, underpinned by an inability to resource policing and maritime surveillance, is being exploited by crime syndicates.
The Waqa Moana proposal would result in better information-sharing across the region, utilising exisiting patrol boats, to fill those gaps.
A co-ordination centre in Samoa would receive and analyse intelligence and surveillance, while a Fiji-based maritime body would put out interdiction requests through the region for individual countries to act on.
The proposal comes two years after Australia announced a similar investment towards a Pacific Policing Initiative, which created training hubs for regional police and a multi-country force which can deploy on request.
SOURCE/AUTHOR : AAP NEWS/Ben McKay in Koror, Palau
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