Patrick Colin Lawless is an Australian diplomat and senior career officer with the

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian federal government responsible for foreign policy and relations, international aid (using the branding Australian Aid), consular services and trade and inv ...

(DFAT). Lawless served as the Australian Ambassador to Brazil, from 12 February 2014 until February 2016. Lawless previously served as Australia's Ambassador to Portugal (2009–2013) and to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(2002–2005).

Early life and education

Lawless can trace his family heritage to the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...

landing in Botany Bay in 1788. Lawless speaks Portuguese and graduated from the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

and

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. Prior to working for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Lawless practiced law in Sydney and worked for the Aboriginal Land Commissioner in Darwin.

Career

Lawless began his career with the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1985 as held a number of positions with the Department throughout his career including three ambassadorships. Lawless worked as the speechwriter for the Foreign Minister and Trade Minister from 1992 and 1993 and then as an adviser in the Trade Minister's office in 1993. By 1998 Lawless began serving in senior Department positions beginning with the Director of the Staffing Operations Section in DFAT's Staffing Branch. His first ambassadorial appointment to Poland was announced by the Minister

Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United King ...

on 30 May 2002 replacing

Margaret Adamson Margaret Adamson is an Australian diplomat who has served as Deputy High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea; Ambassador to Cambodia; Ambassador to Poland; Consul General to Berlin; and High Commissioner to Pakistan. Education Adamson gradua ...

. Lawless's replacement

Ian Forsyth Ian William Forsyth (born 4 July 1946) is a Scottish former rugby union player who won six international caps for the Scotland national rugby union team. He played at Centre. Rugby Union career Amateur career Ian Forsyth was born on 4 July ...

was announced in April 2005 and he completed his post in Poland in June 2005. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to Poland he served as the head of the Trade Development Branch and Trade and Economic Analysis Branch, the Deputy Head of Mission in South Africa and Russia and a diplomatic posting in France Lawless was announced as the Ambassador to Portugal with non-resident accreditation to

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

Guinea Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

and

Sao Tome and Principe SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U. ...

on 24 August 2009 by Minister Stephen Smith, he replaced Luke Williams. He was replaced by Anne Plunkett in May 2012. After 2012 Lawless served as the head of DFAT's Resources, Competitiveness and Trade Analysis Branch. Lawless was appointed the Ambassador to Brazil on 12 February 2014 by Minister

Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Curtin ...

replacing Brett Hackett. While Ambassador to Brazil, Lawless, along with

Austrade The Australian Trade and Investment Commission, or Austrade ( ), is the Australian Government's trade, investment and education promotion agency which was also given responsibility for tourism policy, programs and research from 2013. Austrade ...

, was involved in organising and facilitating Australian involvement in the Brazilian Association of Water Resources Symposium which allowed for water management experts from Australia to train Brazilian stakeholders. He also met the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...

when they landed in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in ...

prior to their third

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

game. In January 2016, Foreign Minister

announced that Lawless would be replaced by John Richardson in February.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawless, Patrick Ambassadors of Australia to Poland Ambassadors of Australia to the Czech Republic Ambassadors of Australia to Brazil Ambassadors of Australia to Portugal Ambassadors of Australia to Cape Verde Ambassadors of Australia to Guinea-Bissau Ambassadors of Australia to São Tomé and Príncipe Living people University of New South Wales Law School alumni Alumni of the London School of Economics Year of birth missing (living people)