Sir Michael Thomas Somare GCL GCMG CH CF SSI KStJ KSG PC (9 April 1936 – 25 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician.

During his political career he was a member of the House of Assembly and after independence in 1975 the National parliament for the East Sepik Provincial – later open – seat.

On 12 December 2011, the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea ordered that Somare be reinstated as Prime Minister, ruling that O'Neill had not been lawfully appointed.

Following a decisive victory for O'Neill in the 2012 general election, Somare expressed support for him, thereby ending the crisis and forming a coalition government.

Somare's earliest education was in a Japanese-run primary school at Karau during World War II where he learned to read, write and count in Japanese.

[16] Somare stressed his background in the small emerging modern sector of Papua New Guinea rather than his immersion in Sepik culture in two long interviews at the end of his career.

He stood for election when opportunities opened up for native Papua New Guineans to enter the National Assembly in 1968 and he was one of the eight Pangu candidates who were successful.

[24] Michael Somare's role in the independence struggle reflects therefore the values he advocated throughout his career, as a builder of consensus and a politician whose main mission was avoiding or reconciling conflicts.

However, he left the reforms of the preceding Morauta government intact, and his fiscal rectitude fitted the IMF philosophy of structural adjustment.

PNG mainly attempted to remain as passive as possible towards the violent conflict between proponents of West Papua independence and the Indonesian government.

[51] The West Papuan independence movement was keen to be admitted as a member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) which is resisted by Indonesia.

However, in 2013, when Somare was no longer in government, he advocated representation of West Papua on the MSG during the silver jubilee celebrations of the group.

He suggested a presence of the West Papuans at the MSG on similar terms as China tolerated Hong Kong and Taiwan at APEC.

Julian Moti, was arrested in Port Moresby on 29 September 2006 under an Australian extradition request to face child sex charges over an alleged incident in Vanuatu in 1997.

Moti was a close associate of Manasseh Sogavare, the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, This caused outrage on the part of the Australian government.

[56] At the celebrations of thirty years of independence in 2005, Somare complained that Australia was seeking to take control again and was prepared to totally destroy PNG's reputation.

[58] Afterwards, the family, the political party that he had belonged to and the highly respected veteran politician Dame Carol Kidu complained about the relatively short ceremony while they had expected a military parade, singing groups, etc.

[59][60] Later a more elaborate ceremony was performed in Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby that was – maybe due to unseasonal rain - poorly attended.

However, the prime minister retained the power to change his cabinet and as a result, this apparent stability glossed over sharp conflicts in the government.

The only person who gained significant power during this period was Somare's son Arthur, the Angoram Open MP and it became apparent that he was being groomed as the preferred successor.

Once most MPs had left parliament and the yelling and cries of dictatorship died down, Mr Somare crossed the floor, pointed his finger at an MP, Sam Basil, and shouted in Toc pisin words that translate as: If you were outside this chamber I would kill you.

In January 2012 he attempted to take power through a military coup that failed as the army, civil service and police were backing his rival Peter O’Neill.

[74] When carbon trading emerged, Michael Somare, supported this enthusiastically and PNG became an active member and maybe initiator of the Coalition for Rainforest Nation and the country aimed to participate in the REDD program.

[76] His enthusiasm for REDD is said to be motivated to get away from conditionality on logging suggested by the World Bank and the idea of carbon credits evolved in a speculative frenzy.

He was the only Judge that called for dismissal: Michael Somare's attitude as prime minister showed "a disregard bordering on disdain for his constitutional obligations.

Everybody watched this very public, if you like, humiliation of him for the last couple of months and I think the majority of Papua New Guineans were very relieved at the judgment made by two of the three (judges).

That challenge was also evident in the suggestion in 2008 by opposition politician Bart Philemon that Sir Michael Somare gives an explanation on how he obtained a A$349,000 three-bedroom executive-style apartment with private plunge pool in inner-city Cairns.

His son Arthur Somare who was then PNG's State Enterprise Minister was also questioned about a A$685,000 four-bedroom home he had bought two months prior at Trinity Beach.

His name and that of his son Michael Somare jr, were mentioned in a case of fraud and money laundering relating to a scheme to build community colleges in PNG.

[83] The Sydney Morning Herald accused Somare of accepting a one million dollar bribe from the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE in the pursuit of contracts.