4. Peter O’Neill
‘Peter Charles Paire O’Neill, CMG is the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea since 2011. He is born in Lalagam , Pangia , Southern Highlands Province on 13 February 1965.
O’Neill’s father, Brian O’Neill, was an Australian-born magistrate of partial Irish descent. His mother, Awambo Yari, a Papua New Guinean, came from the Southern Highlands. His father moved to Papua New Guinea in 1949 as an Australian government field officer, known in Tok Pisin as a kiap, later serving as a magistrate in Goroka until his death in 1982.
Peter O’Neill spent his first years of his youth in his mother’s village and entered his father’s urban household after going to secondary school. O’Neill was educated at the Pangia Primary School , Ialibu High School and Goroka High School .
After leaving school he obtained a Bachelor’s in Commerce at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) . This was followed by an honors degree in accountancy from UPNG. He obtained a professional qualification and became a Certified Practicing Accountant in 1989.
A year later he became President of the PNG Institute of Certified Practicing Accountants. Peter O’Neill became a partner in Pratley and O’Neil’s accounting firm. He combined this with a substantial number of directorships, often as Executive chairman.