Attorney General Clarifies King's Counsel Appointment

On March 18, 2025, Minister for Justice and Attorney General Pila Niningi provided detailed answers to questions surrounding the appointment of Papua New Guinea's first King's Counsel in Parliament.

This response aimed to clarify questions raised on November 27, 2024, by the Member for Sinasina Yongomugl, Kerenga Kua, who claimed that the Attorney General single-handedly made the appointment. In his questions, Minister Niningi was asked to admit whether he "created a scandal, made a mockery of the laws and especially the Lawyers Act which he should uphold and maintain."

However, Pila Niningi refuted the claim, stating that it was not the Attorney-General who made the appointments of King's Counsel. Niningi explained that the power to appoint legal practitioners as King's Counsel is the prerogative right of the Sovereign's representative, the Governor General, per the advice of the Attorney-General, exercising powers under the underlying law recognized by the Constitution, the Attorney General Act 1989, and other related laws of Papua New Guinea.