Peter O'Neill

Peter Charles Paire O'Neill (born 13 February 1965) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. He has been a Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pangia since 2002. He was a former cabinet minister and the leader of the People's National Congress between 2006 and 2022. He resigned his position as prime minister to avoid a vote of no confidence, and he was succeeded by James Marape. O'Neill won re-election to the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea in 2022 in the first round with a large majority, which is unusual in the country. Early life O'Neill was born on 13 February 1965 in Pangia, Territory of Papua, in the present-day Southern Highlands Province. His father, Brian O'Neill, was a magistrate of Irish Australian descent, while his mother, Awambo Yari, was of Papua New Guinean descent from the Southern Highlands. O'Neill's father moved to Papua New Guinea in 1949 as an Australian government field officer (also known as a kiap) and later served as a magistrate in Goroka until his death in 1982. O'Neill spent the first years of his youth in his mother's village, and after attending secondary school, he stayed at his father's urban residence in Goroka. O'Neill was educated at Pangia Primary School, Ialibu High School, and Goroka High School. After leaving school, he obtained a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) in 1986. He later received a degree with honors in accounting from UPNG. He also obtained a professional qualification and became a Certified Practicing Accountant in 1989. A year later, he became president of the Papua New Guinea Institute of Certified Practicing Accountants. O'Neill was then a partner in Pratley and O'Neill's accounting firm. He combined this with a substantial number of directorships, often as executive chairman, including at the PNG Banking Corporation when it was government-owned. Early political career O'Neill entered politics in 2002 as a Member of Parliament representing Ialibu-Pangia under Prime Minister Michael Somare. As a member of the People's National Congress (PNC), O'Neill was part of the coalition government and was appointed to the Cabinet as the Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations, then reassigned in 2003 as the Minister for Public Service. However, in 2004, he was dropped from the Cabinet, and the PNC left the coalition to join the opposition.