James Gau

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James Gau Gelak (born 19 September 1957) is a Papua New Guinean politician. He was a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea 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). [1] He was also Governor of Madang Province from January 2011 until the 2012 election. [2] [3]

Gau is the son of Gau Yabile, a former member of the Madang Provincial Assembly during the 1970s and 1980s. [4] 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. [1]

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. [4] 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. [5] [6] In January 2011, he was elected Governor of Madang Province to serve out the remainder of the term of previous Governor Arnold Amet, who had been appointed Attorney-General. [2] He supported Peter O'Neill's August 2011 ouster of Michael Somare as Prime Minister, subsequently declaring that the new government was a "divine intervention". [7]

In January 2012, he was among a number of National Alliance MPs to switch to the new Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party. [8] Gau subsequently became the party's deputy leader for the Momase Region. [9] He was re-elected in his Rai Coast seat as a Triumph Heritage Empowerment candidate at the 2012 election, having opted not to recontest the permanent governorship. [10] He moved to the crossbenches following Prime Minister O'Neill's sacking of party leader Don Polye in early 2014, and moved to the opposition in November 2014. [11] In February 2015, he was named Shadow Minister for Works and Transport by now Opposition Leader Polye. [12] 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. [1]

He lost his seat to Peter Sapia, the son of his predecessor as MP for Rai Coast, at the 2017 election. [13] [14]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Hon. James Gau, MP". National Parliament of Papua New Guinea. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Gau is Madang Governor elect". PNG Post Courier. 5 January 2011.
  3. ↑ "Nominations By Electorate" (PDF). PNG Electoral Commission. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Madang son takes Raikos seat". PNG Post-Courier. 4 May 2010.
  5. ↑ "Ramu a must: MP". PNG Post Courier. 17 June 2010.
  6. ↑ "Mine visit reveals risky' works". PNG Post Courier. 8 August 2011.
  7. ↑ "New Govt for people: Gau". PNG Post-Courier. 5 October 2011.
  8. ↑ "Don Polye splits National Alliance - launching new group". PNG Post Courier. 23 January 2012.
  9. ↑ "Polye aims for top". PNG Post Courier. 10 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Madang Governor elect to be declared today". PNG Post Courier. 30 July 2012.
  11. ↑ "Polye, three MPs move to Opposition". PACNEWS. 19 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "PNG Opposition leader Polye names shadow cabinet". PACNEWS. 16 February 2015.
  13. ↑ "Yama and Uguro join Alliance as Parliament seats". PNG Post-Courier. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  14. ↑ "Madang update". PNG Post-Courier. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
National Parliament of Papua New Guinea
Preceded by Member for Rai Coast Open
2010–2017		Succeeded by
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