[2] Atopare was born in Kabiufa, near Goroka in what is now the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.
[3] In 1977, at the age of 25, he was elected to the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, representing Goroka but failed to be re-elected in 1982.
He subsequently held many roles, including being a board member of Air Niugini.
[citation needed] In 1991, he was made secretary-general of the PNG Smallholder Coffee Growers Association and, in 1997, was appointed as governor-general.
He had to bring order when violence and controversy marred the electoral process in PNG's oil and gas rich Southern Highlands Province.