Prime Minister Christopher Luxon stops for photos during a visit to Honiara Senior High School in the Solomon Islands, where he is attending the Pacific Islands Forum. Photo / Adam Pearse
New Zealand appears set to increase its police force in the Pacific, a move Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says won’t be seen as a response to world powers growing their security presence in the area.
Luxon, speaking to media from the Solomon Islands while attending the Pacific Islands Forum, said he would be “very happy” to increase the number of Kiwi officers based across Pacific nations as the region suffers a surge in methamphetamine use.
Any increase, Luxon said, would be linked with Australia’s Pacific Policing Initiative, which sought to establish regional training centres and a police response team.
The initiative, ratified at last year’s forum in Tonga, had been interpreted as one response to China’s influence in the Pacific and its interest in bolstering its own security presence.
Luxon also revealed he and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown have spoken as New Zealand withholds aid funding over the latter’s recent agreements with China.
On Thursday, Pacific leaders will depart Honiara for the annual retreat – a function designed to give them space to debate regional issues without officials present.
Having touched down shortly after midnight on Tuesday, Luxon arrived in time for the forum’s plenary meeting, held a bilateral meeting with Fiji PM Sitiveni Rabuka and made a visit to Honiara Senior High School.
Speaking to New Zealand media at the school, Luxon confirmed he would have discussions while attending the forum about increasing the number of Kiwi police officers based in the Pacific.
“I’m very happy to,” Luxon said when asked if New Zealand would put more boots on the ground.
He argued a sharp rise in methamphetamine use and trafficking in the region warranted such a response, citing a 15-times higher price point for the drug in the Pacific amid “big inroads” by United States-based organised crime groups and Mexican cartels.
The move would be part of the Pacific policing initiative, a proposal born alongside China increasing its number of police personnel in several Pacific nations.
Luxon said he had no concerns a greater New Zealand presence would be viewed as combating China’s efforts, instead claiming the approach to policing aligned well with its neighbours.
Luxon’s comments echo the thoughts of Police Commissioner Richard Chambers, who the Herald revealed last month was speaking with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assess opportunities to increase officer numbers in the Pacific.
While at the school, Luxon also said he had spoken at least twice with his Cook Islands counterpart since New Zealand paused about $20 million in funding to the self-governing nation after it signed several agreements with China in February.
The agreements, which concerned economic, infrastructure and maritime co-operation, had prompted international warnings about the influence China could have over Cook Islanders, who were also New Zealand citizens.
New Zealand was unaware of Brown’s intention to sign those deals, which prompted frustration as the free association relationship between the two nations required him to notify New Zealand of such agreements.
Since the funding pause in June, officials from both sides had been working to understand the ramifications of the deals.
Luxon has now confirmed he spoke with Brown, once while leaving the All Blacks’ test on Saturday and again this morning while in the Solomon Islands.
However, it appeared little had changed since June.
“Our officials need to work out those solutions before we have a deeper political engagement,” Luxon said.
“Our officials have some work to do to make sure that we’re comfortable with the management of the risks associated with those recent agreements that we’ve talked about, but you know, we can be civil and constructive in the same way.”
Normally when the Prime Minister visits a school he doesn’t get charged by young men brandishing whips, axes and a bow and arrow.
While he would have been briefed before his visit to Honiara Senior High School, Luxon clearly wasn’t expecting to be ambushed by half a dozen weapon-wielding warriors screaming at him the moment he stepped out of the car, a custom designed to assess a visitor’s intentions.
Luxon couldn’t help but jump slightly as the boys approached – the all-too-familiar instinctual flash of fear written on his face for a moment before he regained composure.
One can hardly fault him. The archer ventured so close it would have made the trigger fingers of Luxon’s personal security guards twitch.
To his credit, Luxon admitted as much as he was greeted by his hosts: “I got out of the car and didn’t quite know what was coming.”
The visit progressed in typical fashion after that, Luxon celebrating spending $60m over the next 10 years to enhance education outcomes in the Solomon Islands.
His speech could have easily been lifted from the countless addresses Luxon has given about improving New Zealand’s educational achievement.
The only thing missing was the cellphone ban; some of the 200 students in the audience filming Luxon as he spoke.
That didn’t escape Luxon as he mingled with students afterwards, explaining to one boy how his phone would be banned in New Zealand and pondering whether he should mention that to the Solomon Islands Education Minister. The boy looked unfazed.
With a tendency to speak to anyone who asks for a chat or selfie, Luxon’s security was evidently concerned for the PM’s uncovered head in the thick Solomon Islands heat and his staff discussed when sunscreen was last applied.
One of the local police drew the short straw, holding a large black umbrella over Luxon when he was in direct sunlight for the remainder of his visit.
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.