vote of no confidence in Somare, which was unsuccessful when Somare succeeded in adjourning parliament instead. Although sacked as Minister by Somare in the aftermath, when the motion again came up in November, Abel wrote a letter indicating that he wished to withdraw his support for it, and it again failed. In a June 2011 ministerial reshuffle, he was appointed Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Constitutional and Electoral Matters in a ministerial reshuffle by Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal. On 2 August 2011, Abel supported a no-confidence motion in Acting Prime Minister Abal and voted to elect Peter O'Neill as the new Prime Minister. He stated that he had advised Abal on numerous occasions of "dissatisfactions within the government" but that Abal had been "slow in executing his powers". He was subsequently appointed Minister for Commerce, Industry and Trade in the O'Neill government. He subsequently joined O'Neill's People's National Congress party, and was later re-elected under that banner at the 2012 election. Following his re-election, he was promoted to Minister for National Planning by O'Neill in August. As Minister for National Planning, his role has included individual infrastructure projects, addressing public service corruption, a long-running project to introduce a biometric national identification card, the implementation of a sustainable development strategy, and issues with aid delivery and the Australian detention centre at Manus Island. In August 2017, Abel was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister under Peter O'Neill following the defeat of his predecessor Leo Dion at the 2017 election. He lost the position in the First Marape Cabinet. He was the Minister for Finance and Rural Development from 7 June 2019 to 8 November 2019. References Living people Ministers of Finance of Papua New Guinea Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea National Alliance Party (Papua New Guinea) politicians Papua New Guinean accountants People's National Congress (Papua New Guinea) politicians University of Queensland alumni 1969 births 21st-century Papua New Guinean politicians