# Job Pomat

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Sir **Job Pomat** [CMG](/source/Companion_of_the_Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George) (born 1960) is a [Papua New Guinean](/source/Papua_New_Guinea) politician. He has represented the electorate of [Manus Open](/source/Manus_District) in the [National Parliament of Papua New Guinea](/source/National_Parliament_of_Papua_New_Guinea) on two separate occasions since 2007 and has been [Speaker of the National Parliament](/source/Speaker_of_the_National_Parliament_of_Papua_New_Guinea) since 2017.

## Early life

Pomat grew up in the village of Rossun on the island of Manus, in what was then the [Territory of Papua and New Guinea](/source/Territory_of_Papua_and_New_Guinea). His father [Peter Pomat](/source/Peter_Pomat), village chief and missionary of the [Seventh-day Adventist Church](/source/Seventh-day_Adventist_Church), ran unsuccessfully three times in the elections for the colonial legislative assembly, prior to independence in 1975.

He worked as a technician for various companies before contesting the 1993 provincial election. He served as Speaker and Deputy Governor of the Manus provincial government for two terms.[1]

## Political career

Pomat was first elected to the National Parliament at the [2007 general election](/source/2007_Papua_New_Guinean_general_election) in the seat of Manus Open, representing [People's National Congress](/source/People's_National_Congress_(Papua_New_Guinea)).[2] He was appointed Inter-Government Relations Minister in Prime Minister [Michael Somare's](/source/Michael_Somare) Cabinet. He then served as Fisheries Minister in [Peter O’Neill's](/source/Peter_O'Neill) Cabinet.[1]

He lost his seat at the [2012 general election](/source/2012_Papua_New_Guinean_general_election) after one term to then-[New Generation Party](/source/New_Generation_Party_(Papua_New_Guinea)) member [Ronny Knight](/source/Ronny_Knight).[3]

He regained the seat at the [2017 general election](/source/2017_Papua_New_Guinean_general_election) and was subsequently elected as Speaker of the tenth National Parliament. As Speaker, he had totems and other artefacts reintroduced into Parliament that his predecessor [Theo Zurenuoc](/source/Theo_Zurenuoc) had removed in 2013 for religious reasons.[4]

In 2018, he became the deputy leader of People's National Congress.[5]

In 2019, the [Australian Financial Review](/source/Australian_Financial_Review) reported that [Paladin Solutions](/source/Paladin_Solutions) PNG, which was awarded government security contracts worth A$423 million on Manus Island, entered into an agreement in 2018 with Peren Investment, a company majority controlled by Pomat's brothers Kepo, Allan and Polosong Pomat.[6] Job Pomat denied any wrongdoing and that he would have indirectly benefited from the agreement.[7]

In May 2019, Pomat was criticised for refusing to allow the opposition to introduce a censure motion against Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, and then refusing to authorise a vote on his own removal as speaker.[8] O'Neill resigned the next day, and Job Pomat presided over the election of [James Marape](/source/James_Marape) to the position of Prime Minister by MPs.[9]

He resigned from the People's National Congress on 22 June 2020 and became an independent to protect his neutrality as speaker and in response to allegations of fraud.[10]

In 2021, opposition leader [Belden Namah](/source/Belden_Namah) filed an application to the [Supreme Court](/source/Supreme_Court_of_Papua_New_Guinea) against Pomat which alleged that he had breached the [Constitution](/source/Constitution_of_Papua_New_Guinea) in his role as Speaker.[11] The accusations relate to Pomat's forced adjournment of Parliament in December 2020 and passing of the 2021 national budget without debate.[12]

Pomat won his seat at the [2022 general election](/source/2022_Papua_New_Guinean_general_election) as a candidate for the [Pangu Party](/source/Pangu_Pati) and was re-elected as Speaker of the eleventh National Parliament. As of 2022, he is also the Chairman of Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings, Legislation and National Parliament Committees.[13]

## Personal life

Pomat is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[14]

Pomat's contribution and service to the community was recognised by the [Queen of Papua New Guinea](/source/Queen_of_Papua_New_Guinea), [Elizabeth II](/source/Elizabeth_II). In November 2019, Pomat was awarded the Most Distinguished [Order of St Michael and St George](/source/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George) by the [Governor-General](/source/Governor-General_of_Papua_New_Guinea) [Bob Dadae](/source/Bob_Dadae).[1]

## References

1. Ingipa, Joyce (2019-11-07). ["How Job made it right for late dad"](https://thenational.com.pg/how-job-made-it-right-for-late-dad/). *[The National](/source/The_National_(Papua_New_Guinea))*. Retrieved 2022-09-13.

1. ["NATIONAL ELECTION 2007"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070823133021/http://www.pngec.gov.pg/resultsNat2007/SummaryResults.htm). PNG Electoral Commission. Archived from [the original](http://www.pngec.gov.pg/resultsNat2007/SummaryResults.htm) on 23 August 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2017.

1. ["NATIONAL PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS 2012"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120815045210/http://results.pngec.gov.pg/index.html). PNG Electoral Commission. Archived from [the original](http://results.pngec.gov.pg/index.html) on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2017.

1. Popot, Glenda (2017-10-19). ["Parliament totems to be reinstated"](https://www.looppng.com/node/68167). *Loop PNG*. Retrieved 2022-12-23.

1. ["O'Neill welcomes three more MPs to PNC"](https://postcourier.com.pg/oneill-welcomes-three-mps-pnc/). *postcourier.com.pg*. Retrieved 2022-12-23.

1. ["Paladin cut deal with family of PNG powerbroker"](https://www.afr.com/world/paladin-cut-deal-with-family-of-png-powerbroker-20190217-h1bd8m). *Australian Financial Review*. 2019-02-17. Retrieved 2022-12-23.

1. ["I have nothing to hide over Paladin Contract, says PNG Parliament Speaker Pomat"](https://news.pngfacts.com/2019/02/i-have-nothing-to-hide-over-paladin.html) (in Indonesian). *Papua New Guinea Today*. Retrieved 2022-12-23.

1. Tahana, Jamie; Blades, Johnny; Hawkins, Koroi (2019-05-28). ["PNG parliament erupts in chaos as motions are rejected"](https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/390753/png-parliament-erupts-in-chaos-as-motions-are-rejected) (in en-nz). *[RNZ](/source/RNZ)*. Retrieved 2022-12-23.

1. ["Papua New Guinea MPs elect James Marape to be next prime minister"](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/30/papua-new-guinea-james-marape-next-prime-minister). *the Guardian*. 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2022-12-23.

1. ["PNG parliament speaker resigns from party"](https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/419681/png-parliament-speaker-resigns-from-party) (in en-nz). *[RNZ](/source/RNZ)*. 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2022-07-07.

1. ["Court application against Speaker of Parliament to be prosecuted"](https://postcourier.com.pg/speaker-to-be-prosecuted/). *postcourier.com.pg*. Retrieved 2022-12-23.

1. ["PNG's power plays and political sideshows"](https://crawford.anu.edu.au/news-events/news/18400/pngs-power-plays-and-political-sideshows). *Crawford School of Public Policy*. 2021-02-05. Retrieved 2022-12-23.

1. ["Hon. Job Pomat, CMG, MP - Eleventh Parliament of Papua New Guinea"](https://parliament.gov.pg/index.php/eleventh-parliament/bio/view/manus-district). *parliament.gov.pg*. Retrieved 2022-12-23.

1. Nao, Kila (2021-10-24). ["Pomat Opens New SDA Church"](https://postcourier.com.pg/pomat-opens-new-sda-church/). *[Papua New Guinea Post-Courier](/source/Papua_New_Guinea_Post-Courier)*. Retrieved 2022-09-13.

## External links

- [Video of Job Pomat's election as Speaker of Parliament](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITHp6B-IvJA) [archive](https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DITHp6B-IvJA), EMTV, 2 August 2017

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Job Pomat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_Pomat) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_Pomat?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.