Ronny Knight is a politician from

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 ...

. He served as 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 2012 to 2017 as a member of the New Generation Party and later the National Party, representing the electorate of Manus Open.

Early life

Knight is the son of Australian naval officer Ronny Knight Senior, who was stationed in Manus in the 1960’s at HMAS Tarangau, which is the

PNG Defence Force The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Papua New Guinea. It originated from the Australian Army land forces of the territory of Papua New Guinea before independence, coming into bei ...

Lombrum Naval Base today. When Papua New Guinea gained

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

in 1975, his parents chose to become citizens of the country. Knight attended Lorengau Primary School and Manus Provincial High,

Manus Province Manus Province is the smallest province in Papua New Guinea in terms of both land area and population, with a land area of , but with more than of water, and the total population is 60,485 (2011 census). The provincial town of Manus is Lorengau. ...

Political career

Knight became leader of the New Generation Party following 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: ...

. During the ninth Parliament he served as Vice Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry. He had resigned from the New Generation Party by 2015. Knight was suspended from office in 2015 by a PNG Leadership Tribunal due to allegations of the misappropriation of public funds in relation to a decision by the Joint District Planning and Budget Priority Committee to purchase a second-hand vessel for use as a passenger and cargo ferry in Manus, the MV Trader Star. The decision was upheld by the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in April 2015 following the suspension being upheld by the Leadership Tribunal on 20 March 2015 and by the National Court on 19 April 2015. In April 2017, Knight was reinstated as a Member of Parliament by the Supreme Court, who found that the vessel purchased using public funds was not for his personal benefit. They also found that the Leadership Tribunal and prior court proceedings had not been properly conducted, with legal arguments by the public prosecutor being badly drafted. This decision allowed him to contest the 2017 election, where he unsuccessfully ran for the National Party, losing to

Job Pomat Job Pomat CMG (born 1960) is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has represented the electorate of Manus Open in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea on two separate occasions since 2007 and has been Speaker of the National Parliament ...

. During his time in Parliament he was a critic of the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre. Australian Immigration Minister

Peter Dutton Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian politician who has been leader of the opposition and leader of the Liberal Party since May 2022. He has represented the Queensland seat of Dickson in the House of Representatives sinc ...

criticised and questioned Knight’s credibility to comment on a shooting which took place at the Manus Regional Processing Centre in 2017. In 2022, he contested the seat again but lost against incumbent Job Pomat, with 44% of the vote after the distribution of preferences.

Personal life

Knight is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

References

Living people Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Year of birth missing (living people) {{PapuaNewGuinea-politician-stub