Minister for Community Development, Women, Religion, and Sports Carol Kidu of Papua New Guinea

Lady Kidu was subsequently made a Dame Commander of the British Empire and is now Dame Carol Kidu.

Handbag by her side and wiping her thin-framed glasses, Dame Carol Kidu is one of the worlds hopelessly-armed fighters.

For that fighting spirit, her never-say-die attitude, her sheer grit and determination to take on the might of Melanesias largest and most vibrant male-dominated society, for being the face and voice of the poor and the down-trodden, Kidu is the magazines unanimous choice for the 2007 Pacific Person of the Year.

Thrust into national politics of Papua New Guinea following the sudden death of her husband in 1993, just six months after his term as chief justice was unfairly terminated, Dame Kidu is synonymous with the fight against domestic violence, child abuse, HIV and AIDS, poverty alleviation and community empowerment in the country of her late husband and their children.

Bold moveAs the minister for social welfare and community development, Dame Kidu has been the small general leading from the front.

A trained school teacher, the then Lady Kidu took up teaching in Port Moresby and later moved into writing school textbooks.

Even without her husbands pension because he was terminated as Chief Justice two years short of the payment of his pension, Dame Kidu had little time to grieve.

Talking to the magazine again last month, Dame Kidu says her tactics have not changed much.

Dame Kidu is very much aware of the paradox in her fight for women in parliament.

Weve now managed to raise the level of the department to become a line agency, Dame Kidu said last month.

Through her ministry and out of her own personal interest, Dame Kidu is also at the forefront in the fight against domestic violence and HIV and AIDS.

About her Prime Minister: Im grateful he has twice appointed me to Cabinet in the Ministry of my choice and giving me the opportunity to make what I hope will become substantive changes for the voiceless and the marginalised.

DBE MP Minister for Community Development in the National Parliament, Papua New GuineaDame Carol Kidu was born in Shorncliffe and educated at Sandgate High School, University of Queensland and Kelvin Grove Teacher’s College.

Dame Kidu has been Minister for Community Development in the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since 2002.

Dame Kidu said that as well as discussing the negative social messages we need to acknowledge the socially pro-active messages and the things that we are doing well.

Lady Kidu was appointed chairperson of the committee.

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Dame Carol Kidu said violent crime is increasing rapidly with women subjected to alarming levels of abuse.

And Minister for Community Development Dame Carol Kidu described the six as ordinary women doing extraordinary things.

International Award for courage and leadership.

Informal sector committee chairwoman Lady Carol Kidu said this while reflecting on the recently released census 2000 preliminary figures.

Lady Kidu said without a thriving informal sector, PNG could expect more violence and unrest as people struggled to earn a living in an economy that had a shrinking formal sector workforce and population growth in excess of 3 per cent.

Lady Kidu said the committee had been working on this over the last few years under her leadership with technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank and was also completed.

been named Pacifics Person of the Year by a regional business magazine.

Later, Dame Carol Kidu was rich in her praise for the work of "Chief Reynald Temarii" in his efforts in recognising the role football can play in providing a future for the youth of Papua New Guinea by implementing development programmes on the ground such as the mini-pitch initiative at Kila Kila Secondary school.

From Brisbane’s bayside suburbs to squalid squatter settlements in Port Moresby, Lady Carol Kidu has lived a life less ordinary, and her journey is far from over.

Dr Kidu was first elected to parliament in 1997 as an independent candidate.

Dr Kidu was re-elected to parliament in 2002 as a Melanesian Alliance candidate, and appointed Minister of Welfare and Social Development.

Among her international and regional appointments, Dr Kidu is a member of the United Nations Development Programme Advisory Panel on Poverty and Social Development for the Pacific Sub Regional Centre based in Fiji, and a member of the Board of the Commonwealth of Learning for a four-year tenure from 2008.

consolidate their numbers to get elected.

unselfish and quality leader like Kidu.

Former foreign minister Paul Tiensten picks up national planning and Dame Carol Kidu was re-appointed as minister for community development.

Kidu was attending the nearby Toowoomba Grammar School on a colonial scholarship from PNG, a tropical outpost off Australia’s northeast coast where some tribes had their first contact with the outside world in the 1930s.

Kidu says she and her husband lived as equals in their personal life, but played the appropriate gender roles in the village.

Kidu has met Queen Elizabeth "several times," she says, and tells a story of one rich royal meal that left her husband hungry for plain village fare.

Kidu was re-elected in 2002 and served as the Minister for Community Development until fresh elections in July.

Kidu says she was driven into politics by "issues of social justice, human rights, marginalised groups, things of that nature," but will not stand again in 2012.

The Australian-born Dame Carol Kidu has been re-elected for what is expected to be her final term in parliament.