[1] Kipalan became a magistrate and was elected in 1982 as a member of the national parliament for the Wabag constituency, beating the incumbent, Sir Tei Abal, who had held the post since 1964.
[1][2] Kipalan is best known for having been elected by parliament as Governor-General, only to fail to take up the position as a result of various legal appeals.
However, the country's supreme court ruled that Parliament had breached procedures when it elected Kipalan, and ordered a fresh vote.
This was won by Sir Pato Kakaraya, who beat Kipalan by 52 to 39, which prompted a fresh legal challenge by Kipalan, claiming that the parliamentary clerk had accepted defective nomination forms after the closure time for nominations and that there had been attempts by Kakaraya's supporters to bribe members of parliament.
[3][4][5][6] In May 2007, the Goilala people of the area in which Kipalan had made his home near Port Moresby granted him paramount chief status, an event described by the Papua New Guinea Post Courier as "the impossible" because Kipalan came from the Highlands of Papua New Guinea and the Goilala are coastal people.