It was created in 1964 as the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea but gained its current name after the nation was granted independence in 1975.

The 111 members of parliament serve five-year terms, 89 of whom are chosen from single-member "open" electorates, which are sometimes referred to as "seats" but are officially known as constituencies.

Each government minister must be a member of parliament and section 141 of the constitution provides for the executive to be responsible to the legislature as the representative of the people of Papua New Guinea.

[6] Papua New Guinea has a fractious political culture, and no party in the history of parliament has yet won a majority.

More recently, in a move aimed at further minimizing no-confidence motions, then-Prime Minister Mekere Morauta introduced changes that prevented members of the government from voting in favour of such a motion.