Charles Abel is the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer of Papua New Guinea. He was first elected to the 8th National Parliament for the Alotau Open Electorate in the 2007 General Elections as an Independent candidate then joined the National Alliance Party. He was appointed as Minister for Culture and Tourism in the Somare-Temu cabinet on the from 2007 through 2010. He was appointed Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry in 2011. He was then appointed Minister for National Planning in the O'Neill-Dion cabinet. Following the 2017 General Elections he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer in the O’Neill cabinet. Abel completed his secondary education at Immanuel Lutheran College, in Queensland, Australia. He then completed a Bachelor of Economics at the University of Queensland in 1989 and is an accountant by profession.
