Personal Life
Born 1 March 1948 in North Queensland the eldest of five boys, Lawlor moved to Southport as a small child. Lawlor's family were a self-identified 'Labor family', throughout his childhood in the 1950s and 60s the family handed out how-to-vote cards in Southport which was a safe conservative district. In 1962 he attended the only local high school, Southport State High school, for one year and became the junior athletics champion of the school. He then completed the last three years of high school as a boarder student at Marist Brothers in Ashgrove, Brisbane. After graduation Lawlor worked for the Commonwealth Bank and studied economics at the University of Queensland but did not complete the degree.
In the 1970s Lawlor worked as a clerk for Gold Coast City Council and then travelled to Port Moresby as a customs clerk. After a period working for a small engineering firm in Brisbane he married and moved to work as an accountant in a food franchising company in Durban, South Africa where his first child was born. Lawlor and his family then moved to Brisbane where he worked as an accountant in an insurance company. Through the late 70s he studied law through the Solicitors Board as he could not afford full-time university.
In 1981 he was admitted and became a sole practitioner solicitor until his election to Parliament. As a solicitor Lawlor was also employed as a consultant to Southport law firm Gall Standfield & Smith.
Peter Lawlor has two daughters and a son, Ali, Jane and Phil and two grandchildren. Ali Lawlor has worked as a journalist for The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and Townsville. All three of his children returned from London and Hong Kong to assist him for his 2001 inaugural victory.
He was a committee member of the Gold Coast Turf Club for 15 years, elected at the 2001 AGM as deputy chairman, in a letter to all committee members before the 2002 AGM Lawlor ended speculation and announced that he would not run for chairman as it would be a conflict with his position as the Member for Southport.
He has been involved in numerous sporting clubs including cricket, rugby league, rugby union and Australian Rules football.
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