The United Resources Party is a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in
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 ...
.
Foundation, Agiru and Akoitai's leadership
It was established in December 1997 by Southern Highlands Governor
Anderson Agiru, who became the inaugural leader.
Its platform emphasised equitable returns from resource development. The party initially supported
Bill Skate
Sir William Jack Skate (26 September 1953 – 3 January 2006) was a prominent Papua New Guinea politician. He was the son of an Australian father and a Papua New Guinean mother. Though his career was turbulent and often marked by setbacks, he s ...
as Prime Minister, although they later withdrew their support. It grew through the course of 1998, with four MPs in August, five in October, and six in December: Agiru,
Masket Iangalio,
Peter Ipatas,
Alfred Kaiabe
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
,
Charles Luta and
Roy Yaki. Ipatas defected to the
People's Democratic Movement
The People's Democratic Movement is a political party in Papua New Guinea.
It was founded by Paias Wingti in 1985, after his faction left the Pangu Party. Wingti served as prime minister from 1985 to 1988 and from 1992 to 1994. He was later repla ...
in April 2001.
Agiru was dismissed from office and banned from public office for three years in January 2002 after being found guilty of misconduct by a
leadership tribunal, and failed in repeated attempts to overturn the ban to allow him to contest the
June 2002 election. Central Bougainville MP
Sam Akoitai was the party's only MP after the election, and in July 2002, he became the party's second leader, with Agiru stating "the party is here to stay". Following the election, the URP switched their support to new Prime Minister
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 ...
. By December, Akoitai was serving as Mining Minister in the Somare government, and it was reported that seven independent MPs had joined the party. It gained a second ministry in August 2003.
Tim Neville's leadership and factional conflict
In November 2003, Akoitai was replaced as leader by
Tim Neville
Tim Neville is a former Republican member of the Colorado Senate from the 16th district.
Neville was born and raised in Florida. He has a degree in business administration from Regis University and has lived in Jefferson County, Colorado sin ...
, who stated "we wanted to put some fire into the party", heading what had become a caucus of nine MPs. A week later, it merged with the
Pan Melanesia Congress and the
Advance People's Party, increasing their numbers to thirteen and making them the second largest party in the National Parliament after the governing
National Alliance Party. The merger was queried by former leader Agiru, who highlighted the regulatory requirements for amalgamation under the Integrity Law. In January 2004, Akoitai and Agiru attempted to eject eight United Resources Party MPs who had been originally elected as independents from the party: Neville,
William Duma,
Isaac Taitibe,
John Vulupindi,
Benny Allen,
Kuri Kingal,
Clement Nakmai and
Malcolm 'Kela' Smith.
In March 2004, both Akoitai and Neville claimed to be the legitimate leader of the party. By April, the two were largely leading separate factions, with Akoitai claiming to lead a four-member URP with Smith, Nakmai and Duma, and Neville claiming that he remained leader. This left the party with some members aligned with the government and some with the opposition. In June 2004,
Peter Launa, a candidate for the Neville faction, was elected in a by-election for the Chimbu Regional seat. In July 2004, Speaker
Jeffrey Nape
Jeffery Nape (1964 – 8 July 2016) was, until the 2012 election, speaker of the National Parliament and twice officially and once unofficially acting governor-general of Papua New Guinea. He was elected speaker by the members of the parliament ...
ruled that only Akoitai and Launa would be recognised as URP MPs; however, Akoitai and Neville continued to publicly wrangle over the leadership. In November, the Registrar of Political Parties and Speaker Nape recognised different people as being the URP leader, leading to an angry stoush between Nape and Neville in parliament. After mid-2005, the split ceased making news, with Akoitai resuming the leadership and Neville eventually returning to being an independent MP; however, both Akoitai and Neville lost their seats at the
2007 election.
William Duma's leadership
The United Resources Party returned five MPs at the 2007 election, including
Benny Allan
Benny Allan (born 1 January 1958) is a Papua New Guinean politician. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since 2002, representing the electorate of Unggai-Bena Open, variously as an independent (2002) and for the Un ...
,
Roy Biyama
Roy Biyama (3 August 1967 - 11 September 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2002 until his death, representing the electorate of Middle Fly Open. He was a member of four p ...
,
William Duma,
Guma Wau, and Agiru, who returned after five years out of office.
The party joined the governing coalition.
The party's former deputy leader, Duma, assumed the leadership, and became Minister for Petroleum and Energy under Prime Minister
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 ...
.
Puri Ruing joined the party in July 2010, and was appointed Minister for Internal Security in December 2010, joining Duma in Cabinet. In June 2011, Acting Prime Minister
Sam Abal
Samuel Tei Abal (born 26 June 1958) is a Papua New Guinean politician. Abal, who previously served as Foreign Minister from August 2007 to December 2010, became the Deputy Prime Minister of the country in a cabinet reshuffle by Michael Somare o ...
sacked Duma from Cabinet. The party had at that time recently held a fundraising dinner at which controversial Australian mining magnate and politician
Clive Palmer
Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, the Palmer C ...
had spoken and raised $AU600,000.
By mid-2011, the party was once again reported to feature two factions engaged in a battle over the party leadership, one headed by Duma and one by party founder Agiru. In June, Duma sacked Agiru ally and assistant minister
Francis Potape from the party, before sacking Agiru himself later in the month. In February 2012, Palmer was reported to have headed another fundraising dinner which raised $AU10000. The party switched support after Duma's sacking, and he again became Minister for Mines and Petroleum under new Prime Minister
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 ...
. In June 2012, Duma declared his aspiration to become Prime Minister after the
2012 election.
The party won seven seats at the
2012 election:
Mai Dop, Duma,
Joe Lera,
Benjamin Phillip,
Steven Kamma Pirika,
Fabian Pok
Fabian may refer to:
People
* Fabian (name), including a list of people with the given name or surname
* Pope Fabian (died 250), Catholic saint
* Fabian Forte (born 1943), 1950s American teen idol, singer and actor, known by the mononym Fabian
* ...
and
Anton Yagama. Duma was sacked from Cabinet a second time in February 2014. Duma's relationship with Palmer was again cause for controversy at the time of his sacking, considering his mining portfolio: it was reported that they had been close since 2008, and that he had stayed with Palmer when visiting
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. He stated that he was "proud" to call Palmer a friend. In July, it was reported that Phillip and
Francis Marus had defected from the URP to the governing
People's National Congress. The party continued to support the O'Neill government, while Pirika Kamma and later Lera served in Cabinet. Pirika Kamma died in February 2016.
The party had 10 members in the 111-seat
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 ...
as of September 2019.
Leaders
*
Anderson Agiru (1997-2002)
*
Sam Akoitai (2002-2003)
*
Tim Neville
Tim Neville is a former Republican member of the Colorado Senate from the 16th district.
Neville was born and raised in Florida. He has a degree in business administration from Regis University and has lived in Jefferson County, Colorado sin ...
(2003-2004)
* split between
Tim Neville
Tim Neville is a former Republican member of the Colorado Senate from the 16th district.
Neville was born and raised in Florida. He has a degree in business administration from Regis University and has lived in Jefferson County, Colorado sin ...
and
Sam Akoitai (2004-2005)
*
Sam Akoitai (2005-2007)
*
William Duma (2007–present)
References
{{Papua New Guinean political parties
Political parties in Papua New Guinea
Political parties established in 1997