Australian law enforcement agencies are concerned that criminal networks are increasingly targeting Pacific nations.

A meeting in Canberra to discuss the issue has heard an outlawed Australian motorcycle gang has set up a branch in Fiji as it expands its illegal activities.

The CEO of the Australian Crime Commission, Chris Dawson, and Australian Federal Police (AFP) Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said authorities are looking at increasing cooperation with Pacific nations to address the growing crisis.

“Eighteen months ago one of the outlaw motor cycle groups known as the Rebels established a chapter in Fiji, they’re not there just to ride motor bikes,” Dawson told the seminar.

“They are described as an organised criminal network and are a key focus of law enforcement. They have expanded their footprint globally and the Pacific is one area of that.

“No doubt that is a concern to the Pacific states,” he said.

The meeting heard that the Pacific is now a route to move drugs from the Americas.

Dawson says recent arrests have been made over the alleged importation of large quantities of drugs that have transited through the Pacific to Australia.

The AFP is concerned about the lack of the rule of law in some nations and that corruption is a driver of crime in the Pacific.

AFP Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan says Australia is the market for drugs and the Pacific has become a “staging point” because of its proximity.

“If you look at the region and you look at organised crime as a business, then the market for serious and organised crime in our part of the world is us, is Australia,” he said.

“It is the biggest market for drugs and the source of capital for organised crime. The closest to us and part of our front door is the Pacific.

“The only reason the Pacific is used as a staging point for either narcotics importation or the facilitation of money laundering and so on is because of the porous nature of the Pacific and issues such as the rule of law.

“We see organised crime specifically exploiting those opportunities.

“Opportunities of corruption, opportunities of the proximity to Australia, for example you bring bulk drugs into Pacific islands then use small craft into Australia.”

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) wants to engage Pacific nations in programmes it runs that can assist in countering transnational crime.

Its regional representative for South-East Asia and the Pacific Jeremy Douglas says the UN can support local governments.

The Australian government is considering expanding employment opportunities for Pacific islanders in Australia to help grow economies and provide a counter to criminal pressures.

Senator Brett Mason says that without economic growth the Pacific will remain a target for international crime syndicates.

“What you want is to empower Pacific Island nations,” he said. “They want themselves and their own people to be empowered.

“We already have a seasonal workers programme here in Australia where Pacific Island nations’ workers come and work seasonally picking fruit and vegetables and they send back remittances to their nations. That has worked very well so far.

“In the past there has been a lot of discussion from all parties in Australia about extending that more broadly and that will be part of the ongoing discussion,I think, in the Pacific.”

Senator Mason says labour mobility programmes in Australia could help build economic viability in the Pacific.

“It is part of a conversation about transnational crime more broadly that we are having in the Pacific.”

Senator Mason says it is a complicated issue due to immigration and labour laws and no timetable or targets have been set.

The discussion was hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.