James Gau Gelak (born 19 September 1957) is a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

n politician. He was a member of the

National Parliament of Papua New Guinea The National Parliament of Papua New Guinea is the unicameral national legislature in Papua New Guinea. It was created in 1964 as the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea but gained its current name after the nation was granted independence ...

from 2010 to 2017, representing the electorate of Rai Coast Open for the National Alliance Party (2010-2012) and Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party (2012-2017). He was also Governor of

Madang Province Madang is a province of Papua New Guinea. The province is on the northern coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and has many of the country's highest peaks, active volcanoes and its biggest mix of languages. The capital is the town of Madang. ...

from January 2011 until the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

. Gau is the son of Gau Yabile, a former member of the Madang Provincial Assembly during the 1970s and 1980s. He was educated at Male Primary School, Tusbab High School and Lae Technical College. He was a civil engineering technical officer for the Department of Works prior to entering politics. He was elected to the National Parliament as a National Alliance candidate at a May 2010 by-election following the death of his predecessor Niuro Toko Sapia. He has been a supporter of the Ramu nickel mine project, declaring that it "must be allowed to go ahead" and regularly criticising mine opponents. In January 2011, he was elected Governor of

to serve out the remainder of the term of previous Governor

Arnold Amet Sir Arnold Amet is a Papua New Guinean former politician and judge. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2007 to 2012, representing the Madang Provincial seat. He was Minister for Justice and Attorney-General from ...

, who had been appointed Attorney-General. He supported

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. From 2002 until the present he served as Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pan ...

's August 2011 ouster of

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 26 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the "father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...

as Prime Minister, subsequently declaring that the new government was a "divine intervention". In January 2012, he was among a number of National Alliance MPs to switch to the new Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party. Gau subsequently became the party's deputy leader for the

Momase Region Momase Region is one of four regions of Papua New Guinea. Its largest city is Lae, the second city of the nation. The name Momase is a portmanteau of the constituent provinces, Morobe, Madang and Sepik (East and West). Momase is by far the most li ...

. He was re-elected in his Rai Coast seat as a Triumph Heritage Empowerment candidate at the

, having opted not to recontest the permanent governorship. He moved to the crossbenches following Prime Minister O'Neill's sacking of party leader

Don Polye Don Pomb Polye (born 1 February 1967) is a Papua New Guinean politician from Enga Province. He has been a Cabinet Minister under two Prime Ministers, and was briefly Deputy Prime Minister from July to December 2010. He has held Foreign Affairs, I ...

in early 2014, and moved to the opposition in November 2014. In February 2015, he was named Shadow Minister for Works and Transport by now Opposition Leader Polye. He serves as chairman of the Inter-Government Relations Referral Committee, deputy chairman of the Communications Referral Committee, and as a member of the Pensions and Retirement Benefits Permanent Committee. He lost his seat to Peter Sapia, the son of his predecessor as MP for Rai Coast, at the 2017 election.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gau, James Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Living people Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party politicians National Alliance Party (Papua New Guinea) politicians 1957 births