Pacific Legal Policy Twinning Program

The Pacific Legal Policy Twinning Program provides a unique opportunity for high performing Pacific law and justice officials and police officers to undertake a 6-week placement in the Australian Attorney-General’s Department. The Twinning Program focuses on improving participants’ legal policy skills and progressing an identified legal policy project of priority to their home agency.

Twinning participants also undertake the department's 2-week Pacific Legal Policy Champions Program immediately before the Twinning Program and receive intensive training in legal policy development and legislative reform, including undertaking the Legal Policy Development Course. This includes formal training sessions and group discussions with expert legal policy officers, lawyers, drafters and academics. On returning home, participants share their knowledge and build institutional capability by delivering the Legal Policy Development Course to their home agency and across government.

After completing the Policy Champions Program, Twinning participants work closely with departmental officers on a priority legal policy or law reform project with a crime or policing focus, as nominated by their home agency. Projects typically align with regional policy priorities of the Pacific Islands Law Officers' Network (PILON) and Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP) – such as cybercrime, sexual and gender-based violence or corruption. This project may be one that the home agency is already working on or one that the agency intends to develop or become involved with in the near future. The project should be of strategic importance and priority for the agency which the applicant is likely to be involved in progressing after undertaking this program.

Participants actively engage with our network of Pacific policy alumni and PILON, including sharing their program experience in Talanoa, the PILON newsletter.

Find out more about the Twinning Program and previous participants and projects.

Applications

Applications for the 2025 Pacific Legal Policy Champions and Twinning programs have now closed. Please check this website again in September or October 2025 when applications are expected to open for our 2026 programs.