THIRTY women Customs officers from across the Pacific, including two from Papua New Guinea, graduated from the 2025 Pacific Women’s Professional Development Program (PWPDP) in a special ceremony held at the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service headquarters in Suva last Friday.
The program, which is a collaboration among the Australian Border Force, Oceania Customs Organisation and Australia’s RMIT University, is focused on empowering future female leaders working in customs roles in the Pacific.
Speaking at the graduation, Australian Border Force Assistant Commissioner Sharon Huey acknowledged the cohort for their commitment and dedication during the five-week training.
“I encourage you to continue to be innovative and identify new initiatives and ideas for the border management challenges that we will face into the future,” Ms Huey said.
Representing Papua New Guinea in the program, Ms Brenda Itagau said the course was and eye-opening experience for her.
“Through this experience, I learnt the importance of networking. PWPDP is a great platform where women in Customs administrations in the Pacific can connect with each other, so they build this trust amongst themselves to share information and intelligence to be future-ready leaders to effectively fight transnational criminal networks together,” said Ms Itagau.
Fellow Papua New Guinean participant, Ms Rosa Oraing said she gained confidence and leadership insight, in understanding that everyone has a part to play and every customs officer – no matter their position – need to be encouraged and inspired to know that they play a vital role in contributing to ensuring the security and safety at the borders.
“I strongly support that women from PNG Customs continue to attend this program every year. Women in our societies need to know that they can take the front row, they can lead and make decisions,” said Ms Oraing.
The PWPDP comprised women from Papua New Guinea, the Northern Mariana Islands, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timar- Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Australia.
