The New Ireland province has a new Governor, but the election and appointment of Walter Schnaubelt as Governor has received criticisms and rejections from some members of the provincial assembly. This reaction stemmed from what was alleged to be a closed door swearing in ceremony of the former Minister for Aviation and Member (MP) for Namatanai because of alleged breaches to standing orders surrounding his appointment. The appointment came almost two months after the Late Sir Julius Chan, the former Governor, was laid to rest at his home in Manmantinut in New Ireland province. The Chairman of the New Ireland Provincial Assembly and Deputy Governor Mr. Sammy Missen in a press conference on Friday 28th March said the election of Mr. Schnaubelt did not follow procedure and standing orders and has been deemed illegal. According to Mr. Missen, the election of a new governor for New Ireland was scheduled for Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th of March; however, he said the sitting was adjourned on the 26th of March to the 9th of July due to a point of order raised by the MP for Namatanai on the legality of four chiefs in the Assembly, which the late Sir Julius had appointed. Mr. Missen then said he was unable to make a decision on this matter as he was not present during the time of the appointment of the four chiefs in question, hence, they decided to adjourn the sitting so to take this matter to court, to find out and make the right decision on the legality of these four chiefs. However, Mr. Missen was then called up again to hear out the lawyers and the Clerk just after they had met. But this time the topic now was not on that point of order from MP Namatanai, instead it was to go ahead with the vote for the new governor. “This didn’t come with my decision, so I suspended and adjourned the assembly to the 27th of March to come back and look back on the decision on declaring MP for Namatanai as Governor unopposed.” However, on the 27th of March Assembly sitting, Missen, instead of going ahead with the election, insists that the point of order by the MP for Namatanai regarding the legality of the four chiefs must be addressed first before the election can take place. “So that’s what we did. I went in, read the statement with regards to the point of order by the MP for Namatanai. Due to this matter having to go to court, that was the issue of the day that we must address before we go to the election. “So, that’s why I read the statement, and the full house agreed to adjourn the meeting to the 9th of July 2025,” he said. The reason was that the legality of the four chiefs needs to be addressed first, so to avoid any implications that may come up after the election of a new governor. So, to avoid this, the matter had to go to court. “That was the stand we took; we want this matter to go to court first before we come to elect a new governor. We believe we did the right thing, and all processes and standing orders of the assembly were followed to adjourn the meeting to give time for the court to come in to address this issue,” Mr. Missen said. However, Mr. Missen claimed that the MP was desperate for the Governor’s seat and went ahead with the appoint, something which he said was illegal and they will challenge Mr. Schnaubelt’s appoint because what took place did not follow the standing orders of the New Ireland provincial assembly. Mr. Missen stressed that right now there is an illegal provincial government in place and recognizes that strong opposition as well from the people of New Ireland province against the swearing in of Schnaubelt as New Ireland Governor. He further stressed that the matter will now be challenged in court as the laws were broken to form this new provincial government.