Charles Lepani, the current high commissioner who has lived in Canberra with his family since early 2005, has also had his appointment as PNG’s next ambassador to the Americas scrapped.
Both postings were to have taken effect last month.
Sources have said Bogari would have been the first female PNG high commissioner in Canberra.
Senior PNG bureaucrats have been quoted as saying it is “‘unprecedented”’ for such appointments to be changed once public announcements had been made.
The about-face is said to be a source of embarrassment for Lepani, whose promotion to Washington was common knowledge in Canberra’s diplomatic circles early last month.
Neither Lepani nor Bogari could be reached for comment.
The confusion over who would be representing PNG diplomatically in Canberra has come at a sensitive time.
Preliminary negotiations over the reopening of the asylum-seeker detention center on PNG’s Manus Island were only resolved in a memorandum of understanding signed in Port Moresby last Friday.
Insiders told The Canberra Times PNG’s current ambassador to the Americas, Evan Paki, had threatened to sue if he was recalled.
