Charles Abel

The Honourable
Charles Abel
MP
Member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea
Assumed office
6 August 2007
Constituency Alotau Open
Personal details
Nationality Papua New Guinean
Political party People's National Congress (2011-)
Other political
affiliations		 Independent (2007)
National Alliance Party (2007-2011)
Occupation Politician
Profession Accountant

Charles Abel (born 24 September 1969) is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since August 2007, representing the electorate of Alotau Open. He has been the Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea since August 2017.[1] He was previously Minister for National Planning in the O'Neill government from 2012 to 2017.[2][3]

Life and education

Abel is the grand-nephew of Sir Cecil Abel, one of the founders of the Pangu Party, and the great-grandson of missionary Reverend Charles Abel, after whom he was named.[4] Abel completed his secondary education at Immanuel Lutheran College, Buderim in Queensland, Australia. He then completed a Bachelor of Economics at the University of Queensland in 1989. In the 1990s, he was a vocalist in a band, Wabo Knights. Abel is an accountant by profession.[2][5]

Political career

Abel was elected to the National Parliament as an independent at the 2007 election, but joined the governing National Alliance Party upon his election, stating that he and other Milne Bay politicians had been "promised a better share of the cake".[6][7] On 28 August 2007, he was appointed Minister for Culture and Tourism in the Somare government.[2] His time as Minister for Culture and Tourism saw an agreement with his Chinese Chinese counterpart on Approved Destination Status for Papua New Guinea, a wide range of issues regarding the popular Kokoda Track, including preservation, nearby mining, track access, and airline connections, and seeking the return of illegally exported artefacts.[8][9][10][11] During this time he also initiated a Settlement Reform Committee in Milne Bay to address the issue of squatter settlements, and while acting as Minister for Civil Aviation dealt with the response to the Airlines PNG Flight 4684 crash.[12][13]

On 19 July 2010, Abel and three other ministers, Belden Namah, Puka Temu and Ano Pala, defected to the opposition and attempted a vote of no confidence in Somare, which was unsuccessful when Somare succeeded in adjourning parliament instead.[14][15] Although sacked as Minister by Somare in the aftermath, when the motion again came up in November, Abel wrote a letter indicating that he wished to withdraw his support for it, and it again failed.[16][17][18] In a June 2011 ministerial reshuffle, he was appointed Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Constitutional and Electoral Matters in a ministerial reshuffle by Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal.[19]

On 2 August 2011, Abel supported a no-confidence motion in Acting Prime Minister Abal and voted to elect Peter O'Neill as the new Prime Minister.[20] He stated that he had advised Abal on numerous occasions of "dissatisfactions within the government" but that Abal had been "slow in executing his powers".[21] He was subsequently appointed Minister for Commerce, Industry and Trade in the O'Neill government.[22] He subsequently joined O'Neill's People's National Congress party, and was later re-elected under that banner at the 2012 election.[23][24] Following his re-election, he was promoted to Minister for National Planning by O'Neill in August.[25] As Minister for National Planning, his role has included individual infrastructure projects, addressing public service corruption, a long-running project to introduce a biometric national identification card, the implementation of a sustainable development strategy, and issues with aid delivery and the Australian detention centre at Manus Island.[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]

In August 2017, Abel was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister under Peter O'Neill following the defeat of his predecessor Leo Dion at the 2017 election.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Charles Abel acknowledges mistakes but optimistic of future". PNG Post-Courier. 4 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "Hon. Charles Abel, MP". National Parliament of Papua New Guinea. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "Nominations By Electorate" (PDF). PNG Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  4. ↑ "Caring heart truly serves his people". PNG Post-Courier. 20 May 2009.
  5. ↑ "Music sounding new vibes on the political front". PNG Post-Courier. 15 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "National Alliance set on recruitment drive in ENB". PNG Post-Courier. 3 August 2007.
  7. ↑ "MPs hopeful NA will keep promise". PNG Post-Courier. 20 August 2007.
  8. ↑ "PNG signs tourism deal with China". PNG Post-Courier. 9 November 2007.
  9. ↑ "Kokoda closure upsets tourism Minister Abel". PNG Post-Courier. 11 February 2010.
  10. ↑ "PNG minister worried about Kokoda mining". SBS World News. 12 December 2007.
  11. ↑ "Papua New Guinea prepared to sue US collections over "stolen" artefact". The National. 14 May 2010.
  12. ↑ "Solutions for development". PNG Post-Courier. 26 February 2008.
  13. ↑ "PNG plane crash probe 'hugely important'". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 18 September 2009.
  14. ↑ "PNG govt splits, four ministers defect". Australian Associated Press. 19 July 2010.
  15. ↑ "Chief survives a tumultous week". Weekend Courier. 24 July 2010.
  16. ↑ "No-Confidence Motion in PNG's Prime Minister Rejected Once Again". IHS Global Insight Daily Analysis. 25 November 2010.
  17. ↑ "Papua New Guinea Government List". Reuters. 22 December 2010.
  18. ↑ "Battle Lines Drawn in PNG Cabinet Reshuffle". IHS Global Insight Daily Analysis. 22 June 2011.
  19. ↑ "Major reshuffle". PNG Post-Courier. 22 June 2011.
  20. ↑ "Ruling Party Split Behind Change of Government in PNG". IHS Global Insight Daily Analysis. 2 August 2011.
  21. ↑ "Tiensten, Tammur, Pruaitch cop blame". PNG Post-Courier. 3 August 2011.
  22. ↑ "Co-operative societies in Milne Bay get funding". PNG Post-Courier. 23 August 2011.
  23. ↑ "Winners and losers in MBP". PNG Post Courier. 27 June 2012.
  24. ↑ "PNC leads with 7, PPP second with four". PNG Post-Courier. 19 July 2012.
  25. ↑ "PNG's new cabinet announced in its entirety". Radio New Zealand News. 10 August 2012.
  26. ↑ "Corrupt practices rife in public service". PNG Post Courier. 19 March 2015.
  27. ↑ "Electronic registration for voters in PNG planned for next election". Radio New Zealand News. 29 October 2012.
  28. ↑ "Abel: New ID system not against Christian belief". PNG Post Courier. 5 February 2015.
  29. ↑ "PM to roll out national ID program". PNG Post Courier. 23 February 2015.
  30. ↑ "Conservation giant backs PNG's 'visionary' sustainable development strategy". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 28 July 2014.
  31. ↑ "Aid programs a major focus for Govt". PNG Post Courier. 18 April 2013.
  32. ↑ "G4S gets K30m, media barred". PNG Post Courier. 25 October 2012.
  33. ↑ "Rush to the polls before voters realise Manus's no solution at all". The Australian. 5 August 2013.
Political offices
Preceded by
Leo Dion		 Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
2017–present		 Incumbent
National Parliament of Papua New Guinea
Preceded by
Isaac Taitibe		 Member for Alotau Open
2007–present		 Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.