Australian Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram says Fiji’s Customs and Immigration officers are top notch and comparable to his team.
Speaking to The Fiji Times on Wednesday, he said apart from doing a good job at their respective borders, Australian and Fijian border security agencies faced similar challenges in terms of manpower, equipment and technology.
“Your officers are like my officers in many ways,” Mr Outram said.
“When you meet an officer in various Fijian Customs and Immigration or in the Australian Border Force — one thing you will see straight away is their commitment to the mission and their understanding of how important our borders are — they appreciate the complexity of the border and are experts in what they do.
“So, I don’t see any difference there, I think they are very capable officers.
“What we as an agency struggle with, is providing our officers with the best training, with the best technology and with the best tools to do the job and that’s our job as leaders to do that.
“So I don’t see any differences in the officers on the ground and their commitment to the task, I think they are exceptional and of course they want more resources and they want more people and they want more technology and they want more training and that’s the same with my officers too.”
