In his inaugural speech to the Queensland Parliament Lawlor identified a as the answer to the high growth in local population and traffic, indicating that roads and cars alone could not be relied upon, he attacked the Howard federal Government for not supporting the project. The Gold Coast Broadwater was named as "the greatest natural asset of Southport" which needed protection. Lawlor attacked the previous Borbidge government for approving a horizon tank for film making that was to be constructed on public land at the Southport Spit.