The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Papua New Guinea. It originated from the Australian Army land forces of the territory of Papua New Guinea before independence, coming into being in January 1973 and having its antecedents in the Pacific Islands Regiment. The PNGDF is a small force, numbering around 3,600 personnel, and consists of a Land Element, an Air Element and a Maritime Element. It is a joint force tasked with defending Papua New Guinea and its territories against external attack, as well as having secondary functions including national-building and internal security tasks.
The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), also known as Operation Helpem Fren, Operation Anode and Operation Rata, was created in 2003 in response to a request for international aid by the Governor-General of Solomon Islands. Helpem Fren means "help a friend" in Solomon Islands Pidgin. The mission officially ended on 30 June 2017.
The Pacific class is a class of 22 patrol boats built by Australia and donated to twelve South Pacific countries. They were constructed between 1985 and 1997 and are operated by militaries, coast guards or police forces of twelve island nations. These boats are supported by the Pacific Patrol Boat Program and used primarily for maritime surveillance and fisheries protection.
The Federated States of Micronesia's National Police is the small national police force of the Federated States of Micronesia and is a division of the FSM Department of Justice.
The defense of Palau is the responsibility of the United States, but local police matters are handled by the Palau Police, the national police force. Some of the sixteen states also had separate police departments during the 1980s and 1990s.
The Samoa Police Service is the unitary national police force of Samoa.
The Tuvalu Police Force is the national Police force of Tuvalu, it is headquartered in Funafuti and includes a Maritime Surveillance Unit, Customs, Prisons and Immigration. Police officers wear British style uniforms.
The Vanuatu Police Force is the national law enforcement of Vanuatu. The VPF is headquartered in Port Vila and has two specialised arms: a small para-military force, the Vanuatu Mobile Force, and a maritime force, the Vanuatu Police Maritime Wing.
Security in the South Pacific has proved to be one of the most enduring of Australia's security concerns. It was the subject of Australia's first substantial strategic policy initiative, when in 1888 Alfred Deakin took his concerns about French intrusion into Vanuatu to London. Since then, the South Pacific has played an important role in Australian security thinking. Notably during the Second World War in the Pacific and through Australia's responsibilities as a colonial power in Papua New Guinea until that country's independence in 1975. Australia was regarded as having been quite detached from the Pacific Islands during the post colonial period. However this period, until the beginning of the 21st century, was marked by numerous small scale Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations in the region. The notable cases were in Vanuatu in 1980 and 1988 as well Fiji in 1987. The ADF also played an important role in peacekeeping missions in Bougainville during this period.
The Cook Islands Police Service (CIPS) is the police force of the Cook Islands. The current Commissioner of Police is Maara Tetava who was first appointed in 2009 and in 2011 was reappointed.
The Guardian-class patrol boats are a class of small patrol vessels designed and built in Australia and provided to small South Pacific Ocean countries as part of the Australian Government's Pacific Maritime Security Program.
RVS Tukoro is a Pacific Forum patrol boat that performs fishery protection, search and rescue and sovereignty patrols for Vanuatu. Tukoro is one of twenty-two small patrol vessels Australia designed and built for smaller fellow members of the Pacific Forum, after the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea extended control of a 200-kilometre (110 nmi) exclusive economic zone for all maritime nations.
RSIPV Lata is one of the Pacific Forum patrol boats Australia gave to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.
RSIPV Auki is one of the Pacific Forum patrol boats Australia gave to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.
Nafanua (04) is a Pacific Forum patrol vessel operated by Western Samoa's police. Like her 21 sister ships she was built in Australia. After the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas extended maritime nations' exclusive economic zones to 200 kilometres (110 nmi) Australia agreed to give its smaller neighbours in the Pacific Forum patrol vessels of their own, so they could police their own sovereignty. Nafanua is the ship Australia gave to Samoa.
Nafanua II (04) was a Guardian-class patrol boat built in Australia for Samoa. It replaced the original Nafanua, supplied to Samoa three decades earlier. Her crew were drawn from the Samoan Police Force.
RSIPV Gizo (05) is a Guardian-class patrol boat in service with the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Maritime Department. She was the fifth boat of her class to be completed. Australian officials officially handed her over to representatives of the Solomon Islands on 8 November 2019, at the Austal shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia.
Mostyn Mangau is a senior police officer in the Solomon Islands.
RKS Teanoai II (301) is a Guardian-class patrol boat in service with the Kiribati Maritime Police. She was given to the Republic of Kiribati by Australia as part of the Pacific Maritime Security Program, in which Australia donates patrol boats to neighbouring Pacific Island nations in order to improve regional maritime security. She was the eighth boat of her class when launched in April 2020, but became the eleventh to be delivered due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She was officially handed over to the Kiribati police crew at the Austal shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia on 18 June 2021, replacing the 27-year-old Pacific-class patrol boat RKS Teanoai as the small island nation's sole maritime security craft.
The Pacific Maritime Security Program is a program initiated by Australia to aid the neighbouring Pacific Island nations, such as Timor-Leste, Fiji, Palau, Kiribati and Tonga. The program includes the maintenance of port facilities, training, and the transfer of 21 Guardian-class patrol boats. The program was initiated under the 2018 Boe Declaration on Regional Security.
