This was published 7 years ago
Peter Lawler, in public office served under 11 prime ministers
Peter Lawler, who became one of the giants of the Australian Public Service, might be said to have started with nothing: fatherless at the age of seven, living in a rural backblock of NSW, going barefoot as a boy to catch rabbits and moving with his mother between relatives to keep body and soul together.
He had to combat poverty, the Great Depression, the loss of his home through fire, and chronic pneumonia. But through hard work, the support of his mother, his natural ability and his Catholic faith, he overcame all that to serve 11 prime ministers. He served in the highest capacities, including diplomacy. Under his watch, from John Curtin onwards, was the Menzies era, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Holt ministry, including the VIP Affair, the Gorton and Whitlam governments, the Dismissal and the governments of Fraser and Hawke.
Sir Peter Lawler holds up a small skull, the only thing to be salvaged from his Duffy home destroyed by the 2003 Canberra firestorm. Credit: Lannon Harley
Lawler's personal hardships were not at an end. He lost his first wife, leaving him with five young children; remarried but lost his home – for the second time in his life – in the Canberra bushfires in 2003. Through all that he brought eight children into the world, seven of whom survived and who collectively produced 22 grandchildren. At the time of his passing he had 19 great-grandchildren, bringing the total number of descendants, with spouses, to 68, a group which he referred to as "The Kibbutz".
Peter James Lawler was born in Sydney on March 23, 1921, son of a farm labourer, James Lawler, and Ann (nee Alwell). He grew up in Wandella, near Cobargo on the NSW south coast. An only child, he lived in a small dwelling on the site of an old butter factory. His father died in 1928. In 1934, the dwelling burnt down and he and his mother hit the road. Lawler went to various schools across the state. He got a scholarship to St Joseph's College in Sydney but, needing a drier climate, he finished his schooling at St Stanislaus College, Bathurst.
"A very good man to have at your elbow", Peter Lawler (second from right), in 1975 with then governor-general John Kerr (far left) and chief justice Sir Garfield Barwick (centre).Credit: Peter Wells
Lawler was offered a scholarship to train to be a teacher, and an Exhibition (scholarship) for Sydney University. He would have taught, but the Education Department thought because of his health he was an "an unsound investment". He went to Sydney University, working at a box factory by day and attending lectures by night. Recommended for a job in the Commonwealth Public Service, he joined the Department of Postwar Reconstruction in 1944, the year he married Patricia Thornton, whom he met at the box factory. They had a daughter, Geraldine, in 1948. In 1950, Lawler joined the Prime Minister's Department. In 1951, he was dispatched with a senior government adviser, Kenneth Herde, to the UK Cabinet Office in London to research the workings of government. That year another child, Anthony, was born, followed in 1953 by Mary.
Following some further study in Europe, Lawler and his family returned to Australia. More children arrived: Peter (1954) and John (1956). The arrival of Gerard in 1957 was a tragedy, when both mother and child died in childbirth. In 1958, Lawler married a telephonist, Mary Robinson, with whom he went on to have two more children: Michael in 1961 and Christopher in 1963. In 1964, Lawler became deputy secretary of the Prime Minister's Department. Receiving an Order of the British Empire in 1965, he was appointed by Menzies to the council of the Australian National University. In 1966, he was involved in Holt government cabinet discussions that resulted in a decision to scrap the White Australia policy.
The political crisis in 1967 over allegations of misuse of VIP aircraft had ramifications for the senior public service, but Lawler was unscathed. In 1968, he became deputy secretary of the newly reconstituted Cabinet Office, then in 1972, secretary of the Department of Special Minister of State under Whitlam. In 1975, prime minister Fraser appointed him secretary of the Department of Administrative Services. In 1978, in the wake of the Hilton Hotel bombing, Lawler was dispatched to Britain to find someone to review Australia's policing and security system. He produced Sir Robert Mark, and in the wake of Sir Robert's report was instrumental in forming the Australian Federal Police.
Lawler was knighted in 1981, and two years later appointed ambassador to the Republic of Ireland and to the Holy See. Working tirelessly, he organised a visit to Australia by the Irish president. Lawler also had to deal with an Australian attempt to extradite the fugitive criminal, Robert Trimbole. In Rome, he arranged a visit to Australia by Pope John Paul II. At his retirement in 1987, Lawler received the papal honour of the Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Pope Pius IX.
Busy in retirement, Lawler enjoyed music and poetry, even writing some of it. He was very active in the Australian Family Association. The loss of his home in Duffy was a terrible setback.
Sir Peter died in Canberra on April 1, 2017, survived by seven children and their multitude of offspring. A Requiem Mass was held at St Christopher's Cathedral, Canberra, on April 7. Former High Court judge Justice Michael Kirby said of him: "Sir Peter was one of the old school; he really was respected on all sides, he was extremely wily, a very good person to have at your elbow if you were a politician. He would just remind them that everyone was temporary ... you have just a relatively short time to try to do the best for the people of Australia."
- Malcolm Brown