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Eva Dina Lawler (; born 18 August 1962) is an Australian former politician who served as the 13th chief minister of the Northern Territory from 2023 to 2024, holding office as the leader of the Territory Labor Party. She was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the electorate of Drysdale from 2016 until her defeat at the 2024 Northern Territory general election. Before becoming chief minister she held various ministerial offices in the Michael Gunner and Natasha Fyles governments.
At age 10 in 1972, she started playing hockey for the Palmerston RSL's hockey club, the Palmerston Saints. She and her family were evacuated after Cyclone Tracy in 1974, but returned to Darwin. She became a pioneer of women's hockey in the NT, playing in a number of inaugural NT women's hockey teams, such as the first NT schools team in 1977, women's under-19 side and NT senior women's team in 1980.
Lawler completed a Bachelor of Education at the then Darwin Community College. She taught at Berry Springs Primary School, Gray Primary School and Humpty Doo Primary School all in the surrounds of Darwin. She was promoted to assistant principal, working at Anula Primary School and then Principal at Jingili Primary School. While teaching, she continued her hockey career playing for the NT, as well as coaching with the Palmerston Saints Hockey Club (PSHC).
Her efforts were recognised with the Northern Territory Hockey Association (NTHA)’s Award of Merit and life membership of the PSHC in 1990, before being selected in the first Australian women's national hockey team in 1993, progressing to selector and high performance roles in the NTHA setup in 1996-97 and 2009 respectively. This fitted around her education career focusing on curriculum development and professional development of teachers, as well as work in event management in the Department of Sport.
She later gained master's degrees in education and international management, a diploma in project management and a graduate diploma in public sector management from Charles Darwin University, before moving to politics.
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However, by the time the writs were dropped for the 2016 election, the CLP's support in Palmerston had collapsed. One poll had the CLP on only 37 percent support in an area that had been a CLP stronghold for the better part of four decades. On election night, the CLP's primary vote collapsed by over 20 percent, and Lawler took the seat on a swing of over 16 percent.
On 11 September 2016, Lawler was named to cabinet as Minister for Education. She was re-elected in 2020 with a small swing in her favour, becoming the first Labor MP to win a second term in a Palmerston-based seat.
In 2024, Lawler announced the first of the 2024 Alice Springs curfews and the curfew legislation.
She Unseating to Country Liberal Party candidate Clinton Howe in the 2024 Northern Territory general election. Amid Labor's collapse in Darwin/Palmerston, she lost 12 percent of her primary vote from 2020 and suffered a two-party swing of 21 percent. All but two members of her cabinet were defeated. Lawler is the third Territory head of government to be rolled in their own seat.
Her husband was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2006, which was attributed to carcinogens found in firefighting foams, and subsequently led a campaign for firefighters to receive compensation. He died of cancer in 2018.
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