Australia Pitches Faster UN Peacekeeper Training, New Pacific Policing Bloc

An Australian Federal Police model could help train United Nations peacekeepers in weeks, not months, while a new Pacific policing bloc is designed to address growing regional security concerns.

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett will make a pitch for both this week, as Australia hosts the United Nations Chief of Police Summit (UNCOPS) in New York for the first time.

Commissioner Barrett, also set to meet with FBI director Kash Patel and NYPC chief Jessica Tisch, will discuss co-operating in counter-terrorism and elevating Australia's role in international policing.

Australia's top cop will make the case that a leaner and more agile training model for the UN is possible "without lowering the bar", pointing to Australia's success in training 100 police officers from across the Pacific last year.

It comes a week after the UN cut its peacekeeping budget to $5.1 billion for 2026-27, down 10 per cent, amid ongoing questions over the financial sustainability of its peacekeeping missions.

"When we say leaner, we mean a program delivered in five weeks instead of many months," Commissioner Barrett will say in her address on Wednesday to a police delegation from over 140 countries.

"When we say more affordable, we mean a model member states can actually sustain year on year, not one that strains a peacekeeping budget already under pressure."

Last year, the UN was forced to cut its global peacekeeping force by 25 per cent due to a lack of funding.

Commissioner Barrett said the Australian model will ensure more countries have UN-ready officers and protect police peacekeeping in the long-term.

A further 50 officers will be trained under the Pacific program's second tranche in late July, with another course scheduled for early 2027.

Bid for new body to police Pacific

The commissioner will also try to shore up support for PACPOL, a new policing bloc in the Pacific, to ensure sovereignty and security in the region.

"One of my priorities is to champion the views and role of Pacific Island Police Chiefs, who want a greater say at global forums about security and safety matters that concern their region," she will state in her address.

"A decision will also be made by Pacific Chiefs of Police in October about whether they will agree to a new bloc, PACPOL.

"This will allow them to collectively establish priorities, with one voice at global and regional forums."

Unlike many regions, the Pacific does not have a specialised intergovernmental policing and law enforcement cooperation body to facilitate intelligence sharing and dismantle transnational organised crime.

A bilateral security and policing agreement struck between China and the Solomon Islands in 2022, securing China the right to send police and armed forces as well as replenish supplies from the islands, escalated concerns about Beijing's growing influence.

In 2024, Australia committed $190 million to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force and set up a new police training centre in the capital Honiara.

In recent weeks, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale showed growing support to form a Pacific-wide regional security agreement.

Adding to agreements struck with Tuvalu, Nauru and Papua New Guinea, Australia has set its sights on a new security treaty with the Solomons.

Negotiations on the treaty started last month, with Mr Wale also confirming his government will review the pact with China.