Skate was born in 1954 and coming from a Port Moresby settlement background, Skate is a hero to many squatter settlers.

While governor of Port Moresby he instituted a scheme under which "youth groups" were paid to construct footpaths and garden beds throughout the city providing work for thousands of young men.

Some critics alleged this amounted to the city administration hiring criminal gangs.

Skate's international reputation was sullied when a former advisor, businessman Mujo Sefa, released video tapes he had secretly recorded of Skate getting drunk on whisky in Sefa's office.

During one of these drinking sessions Prime Minister Skate boasted of being the "Godfather" of Moresby's raskal gangs.

He survived the immediate political fallout because it happened early in his term and PNG prime ministers are constitutionally immune from challenge in their first 18 months in office.

However when his 18 months was up, Skate resigned knowing the numbers were not with him.

Following the 2002 elections, his People's National Congress party (PNC) became a coalition partner in the third government of Sir Michael Somare and Skate was appointed Speaker of Parliament.

However, the PNC left the coalition and Skate lost the position of Speaker when he refused to back Somare's support of a constitutional amendment to increase the time in which government would be immune from No Confidence votes.

Skate died in hospital in the Australian city of Brisbane on January 3 after suffering a stroke.