Australia to assist Fiji in a systemic reset of the Police to serve the people - Tikoduadua

The Fiji Police Force with the assistance from Australia will be getting a systemic overhaul to serve the people rather than being a Service Wing that serves the interest of the State.

This has been announced by Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration Pio Tikoduadua this afternoon where he says Australia will also provide several individuals to be embedded within the Force to help build capacity which may be in areas such as intelligence, human resources, and strategic and operational planning.

Tikoduadua says a proper identification of our problems is key to this process of systemic change and the problem is professionalism.

He says this is not the fault of the hardworking police officers on the ground but it was a systemic problem that could only be solved with systemic change.

The Minister says the Force requires generational change which will be achieved by resetting the core values of the Force where the organisational transformation will be driven by the new Commissioner once they are formally announced.

He says the Force will be transparent in all facets of their policing duties and members not complying will not be tolerated.

Tikoduadua says he also intends to appoint a mentor to provide support to the new Police Commissioner, once this appointment is made.

He says the urgency to appoint a new Police Commissioner is recognised, and the government is actively working towards a resolution.

When questioned on the need for a mentor, Tikoduadua says there are some issues and they need to reset the Force and the new Commissioner will be need as much help as possible.

Tikoduadua further says he travelled to Australia with the Australian High Commissioner to progress discussions with the Australian Federal Police on how they can work together to strengthen the capability of the Fiji Police Force.

He says he also met with the Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy regarding their joint priorities including support for Fiji policing.

Tikoduadua says they held discussions on working towards establishing a new Memorandum of Understanding between Fiji Police and Australian Federal Police to incorporate their enhanced relationships and it will supersede the previous MoU signed in 2022.

He says they will now commence development of the new MoU as a key priority.