Charles Abel (born 24 September 1967) Charles Abel is an important politician in Papua New Guinea.He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea from 2007-2022, representing the electorate of Alotau Open.He competed for the regional seat (governor) in Milne Bay Province -of which Alotau is the capital- in 2022 but he lost. Charles Abel has occupied several cabinet positions. He was from 2007-2010 minister of Culture and Tourism. He was Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry in 2011-2012. In the period 2012-2017 he was Minister for National Planning. From August 2017-May 2019 he was Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer. In 2019 he was from June-November Minister for Finance and Rural Development. He is an important voice in policy making for natural resources.

Personal background

Charles Abel is born in Bereina, Central Province. Abel is in the lineage of his namesake, ther missionary reverend Charles Abel The Abel lineage brought church, health and education to many parts of Milne Bay province. His secondary schooling he did in Australia at Immanuel Lutheran College, Maroochydore, Queensland. He thereafter completed a Bachelor of Economics at the University of Queensland in 1989. Abel is an accountant by profession. He mentions as his occupations prior to elections: Financial controller with Global Constructions, Ipili Porgera Investments and businessman in Milne Bay.He also made name as vocalist in a band Wabo Knights.

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 Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range to th ...

politicians had been "promised a better share of the cake". On 28 August 2007, he was appointed Minister for Culture and Tourism in the Somare government. 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. 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 An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in whi ...

crash. On 19 July 2010, Abel and three other ministers,

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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. 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. 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 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 on ...

. On 2 August 2011, Abel supported a no-confidence motion in Acting Prime Minister Abal and voted to elect

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as the new Prime Minister. 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". He was subsequently appointed Minister for Commerce, Industry and Trade in the O'Neill government. He subsequently joined O'Neill's People's National Congress party, and was later re-elected under that banner at 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: ...

. Following his re-election, he was promoted to Minister for National Planning by O'Neill in August. 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

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n detention centre at Manus Island. In August 2017, Abel was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister under

following the defeat of his predecessor

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at the 2017 election. He lost the position in the First Marape Cabinet. He was the Minister for Finance and Rural Development from 7 June 2019 to 8 November 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel, Charles Living people Ministers of Finance of Papua New Guinea Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea National Alliance Party (Papua New Guinea) politicians Papua New Guinean accountants People's National Congress (Papua New Guinea) politicians University of Queensland alumni 1969 births 21st-century Papua New Guinean politicians