Sir John Pundari (born 7 January 1967) is a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

n politician. He has been Speaker of the

National Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

(1997–1999), Deputy Prime Minister (1999), Minister for Foreign Affairs (2001), and has served as the Minister of Finance and Rural Development from 20 December 2020 to 2021. First elected to Parliament in the 1992 general election, as MP for Kompiam-Ambum, he was elected Speaker after retaining his seat in the 1997 election. He founded the Advance Papua New Guinea Party in May 1999, with twenty-two MPs, announcing his intention to challenge for the premiership. He accused Prime Minister Bill Skate's government of persistent political interference in administrative processes, including police investigations, and of a general lack of ethics. Pundari resigned as Speaker in July, and helped Sir

Mekere Morauta Sir Mekere Morauta (12 June 1946 – 19 December 2020) was a Papua New Guinean politician and economist who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1999 to 2002. Inheriting a depressed economy and a fractious legislature, h ...

form a majority in Parliament to successfully challenge for the premiership. Morauta, as the new prime minister, appointed him deputy prime minister and Minister for Women, Youth and Churches.Bio sheet
, Parliament of Papua New Guinea In December, however, Morauta sacked him, citing the need for "political stability" in the coalition government. Pundari and his party were re-admitted to the Morauta government in April 2000, and he was appointed Minister for Lands and Physical Planning, then Minister for Foreign Affairs in May 2001. In October, he was sacked again, after disagreeing publicly with Morauta on the question of Papua New Guinea's participation in the Australian government's "

Pacific Solution The Pacific Solution is the name given to the Australian Government, government of Australia's policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention centres on island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Austral ...

". Australia had begun deporting to a detention camp in Papua New Guinea asylum seekers who had arrived by boat in Australia; Pundari opposed the sending of 1,000 additional detainees to the camp. He founded the Papua New Guinea Revival Party and led it into the 2002 election. He retained his seat in the 2007 election, this time as a member of the National Advance Party, and was appointed Minister for Mining by Prime Minister Sir

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 25 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 ...

in July 2010. Somare was replaced as prime minister by

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 fo ...

in August 2011, and Pundari lost his position in government. Becoming a member of O'Neill's

People's National Congress Party The People's National Congress is a political party in Papua New Guinea. Its former leader Bill Skate served as prime minister from 1997 to 1999 and as speaker of Parliament from 2002 to 2004. Skate died in 2006 and the party was led by Peter O'N ...

, he was appointed Minister for the Environment and Conservation in O'Neill's government following the 2012 general election. Pundari is an active member and leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Papua New Guinea. The Honorable John Pundari, was recognized as a Companion of the Order of St Michael for his services to his country as a Member of the National Parliament, by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

on her birthday in 2014. In 2022, Pundari founded the Liberal Party to compete in the 2022 Papua New Guinean general election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pundari, John Living people 1967 births Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Ministers of finance of Papua New Guinea Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Deputy prime ministers of Papua New Guinea Speakers of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Ministers for foreign affairs of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean Seventh-day Adventists Papua New Guinean Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George