Rimbink Pato

Career

"After a number of attempts", he was elected to Parliament in the 2012 general election, as MP for Wapenamanda, representing the United Party. Despite him being a first time MP, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill appointed him Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration. As such, he represented Papua New Guinea in its cooperation with the Australian government's Operation Sovereign Borders, whereby the government of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott systematically deported to Papua New Guinea's Manus Island (and to the sovereign state of Nauru) all asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australian territorial waters. Pato was chosen for the role of Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration partly because of his foreign education; he completed a bachelor's degree at Glasgow Caledonian University.