PNG minister steps down after woman’s alleged assault in Bondi

One of Papua New Guinea’s most senior ministers has stepped down from his post after being arrested for the alleged assault of a 31-year-old woman in Bondi.

Jimmy Maladina, who was the country’s Minister for Petroleum, was charged with domestic assault on Saturday after police were called to an Imperial Avenue home at 10am after reports of a domestic dispute. They found a woman with facial injuries, allegedly as a result of an altercation with the former minister. The woman is known to the 58-year-old.

Maladina was one of Prime Minister James Marape’s closest advisers and was in the middle of international negotiations over a $17 billion mega liquified natural gas project in PNG.

On Sunday evening he said he had told the Prime Minister he would step down while the matter was before the Australian courts because “perceptions and respect for process are crucial for good governance”.

“I will make the general point that violence perpetrated by either a man, or violence by a woman, cannot be tolerated,” he said in a statement. “We will all have our day in court and I look forward to the facts of the matter being presented.”

Maladina’s past has been chequered by multiple legal issues, including claims of corruption and fraud in PNG.

He spent three years in Brisbane in the early 2000s after completing a masters of law at the University of Sydney. He had his passport confiscated in 2002 by the Federal Court during a dispute over insolvency proceedings for PNG’s compulsory superannuation scheme, the National Provident Fund, which he chaired.

Maladina was granted conditional bail and will appear at Waverley Local Court on Thursday.

The PNG government and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs have been contacted for comment.

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