Australia has taken a landmark step in supporting international peace and security by opening a world-first United Nations Police Peacekeeping training course tailored for the Pacific region.

The five-week program which is hosted and run by the Australian Federal Police commenced inside the state-of-the-art Pacific Policing Initiative Pinkenba Headquarters, close to Brisbane Airport, on Saturday.

The Pacific Police Initiative was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in September last year before the Pacific's Police Ministers and their Commissioners launched the vehicle in December.

The training was launched in response to the growing Pacific region's ambitious goals to contribute more actively to international peacekeeping efforts.

The development and coordination partnership with the United Nations brings together around 100 police officers from Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The UN Police Peacekeeping training course is said to be a demonstration of how international cooperation and shared regional aspirations can deliver a lasting global impact from the Pacific to the world.

It marks the groundwork for a bold vision to build a deployable, Pacific-led UN peacekeepers during uncertain times in the region since the US withdrew its presence and resources under Donald Trump's presidency.

Australia's role in the Pacific is no coincidence, ensuring the regional giant remains the key security partner of preference while attempting to counter the People's Republic of China's growing influence in the region.

Pacific nations of Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Vanuatu have existing policing arrangements with China to provide training and equipment.

A Solomon Islands government security and policing deal with Beijing, signed in 2022 by ex-Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, prompted threats of a US-Australia regimes' change of operations should the Chinese establish a military presence in the Pacific Ocean.

While seeking to lock out China, the Pacific Policing Initiative is a key role for Australia's Federal Government to take on as a rapid deployment force for police-military interventions against civil unrest.

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who has agreed to host a Pacific Policing Initiative facility, said a "peacekeeping mission" could easily be deployed to "quell tension" in New Caledonia, modelled on Australia's neo-colonial Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, which occupied and ran the country from 2003 to 2007 until peace was restored.

A Solomons' International Assistance Force was formed in 2021 amid a violent coup attempt by US-backed forces from the province of Malaita which opposed China's presence in the country.

The intervention was dominated by 100 Australian military soldiers and 140 Australian Federal Police officers deployed alongside security personnel from New Zealand and Pacific countries.

Papua New Guinea Police Commissioner David Manning, who also chairs the Pacific Policing Initiative design steering committee, said the initiative "provides a clear, effective, and agile mechanism to which we can support our Pacific family in times of need to uphold the law and maintain order in security".

Samoan Police Minister Lefau Harry Schuster announced the country would host the third Centre of Excellence, specialising in forensics alongside those Pacific neighbours from Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

It will be housed in the Samoan Police Academy built by the Chinese, of all nations, last year.

Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Lesa Gale said on Saturday the new initiative was the result of a long-standing and productive relationship between Australia and the UN.

The former Pinkenba hub, which was developed to support the Pacific Policing Initiative, includes accommodation for officers, who will wrap up their intense five weeks of training with a final assessment.

Coursework is split between a practical focus which includes driving and road safety, and topics in the classroom based around child protection, sexual exploitation and ensuing sexual abuse.

"The Pacific Island Chiefs of Police reaffirmed the importance of United Nations' Peacekeeping Mission deployments and expressed a desire for regional capabilities to be world leading in their ability to respond and deploy as required," she said.

"Building off the AFP's long-standing association with the United Nations and peacekeeping efforts, the inaugural course will significantly advance those ambitions, giving Pacific member nations a meaningful role internationally in helping to shepherd nations from conflict to peace.

"It also provides a powerful stage to amplify the region's collective approach to policing and to draw global attention to collaborations, such as the Pacific Policing Initiative, which is a Pacific-led and Australian-backed initiative that will only strengthen peace and security."

The international reach of the initiative is delivered with instructions from forces in Argentina, Fiji, Ghana, Italy, Jordan, Nepal, Türkiye, Uganda, and the Australian Defence Force.