Sir Wallace Edward "Bill" Rowling (; 15 November 1927 – 31 October 1995) was a New Zealand politician who was the 30th prime minister of New Zealand from 1974 to 1975. He held office as the leader of the Labour Party.
Before entering politics, Rowling worked as a teacher and briefly served in the army; he became a member of Parliament (MP) in the 1962 Buller by-election. Not long after entering parliament Rowling began to rise through Labour's internal hierarchy, and he was Party President from 1970 to 1973. He was serving as Minister of Finance (1972–1974) when he was appointed prime minister following the death of the highly popular Norman Kirk. His Labour Government's effort to retrieve the economy ended with an upset victory by the National Party in November 1975. Rowling continued to lead the Labour Party but lost two more general elections. Upon retiring from the party's leadership in 1983, he was knighted. He served as Ambassador to the United States from 1985 to 1988.
Early life Rowling was born in a country suburb of Māriri neighbouring the town of Motueka, near Nelson. He was a member of a long-established farming family. His father, Arthur Rowling, started his own orchard and was the chairman of the Labour Representation Committee. Rowling's father was friends with many prominent Labour Party politicians including Michael Joseph Savage, Peter Fraser, Paddy Webb and Bob Semple. They were regular visitors to the family home and made an impression on Rowling during his youth. He was educated at the local primary school and later Nelson College. He left aged 17 and attempted to enlist in the New Zealand Army to serve in J Force during the occupation of Japan. However authorities discovered he was under 18 preventing him from going.
He attended the University of Canterbury, gaining a master's degree in economics. He also attended the Christchurch College of Education (currently, University of Canterbury), qualifying as a teacher. After completing his education, Rowling taught at several schools around the country, including at Motueka, Christchurch, Waverley and in Northland. In 1953 he joined the Maori Education Service, teaching at a school in Whangape. He became involved in local political organising and formed a new branch of the Labour Party in the area. In 1955–56 he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to the United States and taught at a junior high school in Seattle. He returned to New Zealand and taught at Hūkerenui. He resumed his role as a political organiser and was elected chairman of the Labour Representation Committee.
In 1958, Rowling left teaching and joined the New Zealand Army for four years eventually gaining the rank of captain. He became assistant director of Army Education. He spent a short time serving abroad in Malaysia and Singapore, a deployment connected with the Malayan Emergency. While assistant director he also lectured economics part-time at Canterbury University as well as studying accountancy.
Member of Parliament
In the 1960 election, Rowling was selected as the Labour Party's candidate for the Fendalton electorate in Christchurch. Fendalton was regarded as a safe National seat, and Rowling was defeated by the National Party's Harry Lake (who was appointed Minister of Finance in the new National government). Two years later, however, Rowling successfully contested the by-election for Buller, which had been caused by the death of prominent Labour MP Jerry Skinner. Rowling, with a farming background, became Labour's spokesperson on Agriculture and Lands, portfolios previously held by Skinner. Rowling was to hold the Buller seat until the election of 1972, when the seat was dissolved – Rowling then contested successfully the new seat of Tasman, which he did travelling up and down the electorate by Commer campervan, which he lived in for the time.
Not long after entering parliament Rowling began to rise through Labour's internal hierarchy. At the 1966, 1967 and 1968 party conferences Rowling stood for the vice-presidency of the Labour Party, but was narrowly defeated by Henry May on each occasion, however he managed to defeat May in 1969. The following year he was elevated to party presidency. He was the first person to be elected to their first term as president unopposed in Labour history. While Labour was in opposition under Labour leader Norman Kirk Rowling was spokesperson for several portfolios including Overseas Trade, Marketing, Broadcasting, Mines, Planning Development and natural resources.
In the lead up to the 1972 election Kirk tried to persuade Rowling to transfer from the more marginal Tasman seat to the safe Christchurch seat of Avon. Kirk feared Rowling (by then party president) might lose his seat and did not want to lose his economics expertise. Rowling refused on the grounds that such a self interested move would not be befitting of a party president.
Minister of Finance When the Labour Party won power under Norman Kirk in the 1972 election, Rowling was appointed Minister of Finance. This could be seen as a considerable promotion for someone without prior ministerial experience, though the government was inexperienced as a whole with Labour's deputy leader Hugh Watt the only minister with prior cabinet experience. His allocation of the finance portfolio was contrary to expectation, given Bob Tizard had been the finance spokesperson when in opposition. Both Warren Freer and Watt had favoured Tizard for the finance portfolio, but Kirk thought he was not steady enough for the role and was suspicious of him as an "intellectual". Rowling was New Zealand's first finance minister who was also a qualified economist.
As finance minister, Rowling imbued nationalistic sentiments, declaring his goal to make sure the country was developed "by New Zealanders for New Zealanders" and warned that New Zealanders were in danger of losing control of their own country and its industries. The Labour government enjoyed a record budget surplus in its first year and revalued the currency accordingly. However, the slowing global economy, an unprecedented rise in oil prices and a rapid rise in government expenditure led to soaring inflation by 1974.
The remainder of Rowling's term as Minister of Finance was somewhat turbulent; from late in 1973, a series of externally generated crises, of which the 'oil shocks' were the most serious, destabilised the New Zealand economy. These added to other problems, such as growing overseas debt and falling export prices. The government had spent large fulfilling its election promises and Kirk was loath to reduce spending despite the economic conditions worsening. Rowling's instinct was to reduce government expenditure to which Kirk would accuse him of being a tightwad.
Prime Minister (1974–1975)
In August 1974 Norman Kirk died unexpectedly. His deputy, Hugh Watt, took on the role of acting prime minister for several days while the Labour Party caucus chose a new leader. Rowling was one of several ministers speculated as potentially succeeding Kirk, though Watt was initially seen as the frontrunner. After several other possible candidates ruled themselves out, the field was narrowed to a two-way race between Rowling and Watt, with Rowling now being seen as the front-runner to win. However, the party's National Executive and the Federation of Labour still preferred Watt.
A caucus vote was held on 6 September 1974 where Rowling received a surprisingly large majority, beating Watt 44 votes to 9. At age 46, he became the youngest New Zealand Prime Minister since 1887. Rowling was officially confirmed as party leader and 30th Prime Minister on 6 September 1974."Prime Minister Appointed" (6 September 1974) 87 New Zealand Gazette 1899. In the cabinet reshuffle following Kirk's death, Rowling took the foreign affairs portfolio."Ministers Appointed" (10 September 1974) 88 New Zealand Gazette 1901. He was appointed to the Privy Council."Special Honours List" (26 September 1974) 93 New Zealand Gazette 2047. Rowling had the option of replacing Kirk in the safe Labour seat of Sydenham but chose to remain in his (more marginal) home electorate of Tasman. Rowling considered the idea of holding a snap election under the guise of seeking a personal mandate for himself as prime minister. He was dissuaded from doing so to avoid looking opportunistic and due to Labour having trouble fundraising. Close colleagues in the cabinet were more keen on the idea, but the wider caucus (many of whom held marginal seats) were more reluctant. Agriculture minister Colin Moyle attempted, but failed, to convince Rowling to hold a snap election in October 1974 which he was convinced Labour would have won with the loss of only one or two seats.
Unlike the pro-life Kirk, Rowling was pro-choice. In June 1975, he set up the Royal Commission on Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion; it issued a report in 1977, with recommendations that were incorporated into the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977.
Although Rowling also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, his government concentrated primarily on domestic affairs. While Rowling's deputy Bob Tizard had replaced him as Minister of Finance, the seriousness of the economic downturn required the Prime Minister's attention. The Government defended heavy overseas borrowing as necessary to protect jobs. In August 1975, the New Zealand dollar was devalued by 15% to assist local manufacturers and exporters. The recession was the worst in 40 years and Rowling focused on ensuring mass unemployment did not ensue. His main policy approaches to do this were stimulatory spending to ensured domestic demand did not drop further and to persuade trade unions to agree to wage moderation. Overall the fiscal outlook during his premiership was overshadowed by the ongoing impacts of the 1973 oil crisis which constrained what could be done. Nevertheless, his government introduced a number of progressive measures, such as an expansion of spending on education by providing a standard bursary for all students in tertiary studies from 1975. Another major financial policy during Rowling's premiership was a comprehensive superannuation scheme in which employees and employers each contributed a minimum of 4% of gross earnings.
1975 general election
During the 1975 election campaign, Rowling was attacked by the Opposition led by Robert Muldoon, and was generally characterised as being weak and ineffective. Rowling supporters responded with a "Citizens for Rowling" campaign which enlisted high-profile New Zealanders such as Sir Edmund Hillary to praise Rowling's low-key consultative approach. The campaign was labelled as being elitist, and was generally regarded as having backfired on Rowling. While highlighting his strengths, the campaign did not play to them. According to biographer John Henderson, Rowling "...was averse to the public image grooming process − the play-acting side of politics repelled him."
The November election resulted in a surprise defeat for the Labour Party, and Rowling was unable to retain the premiership.
Rowling himself felt that he never had the opportunity to show his leadership capabilities while prime minister. Henderson stated that had Rowling been re-elected he had every intention of initiating the economic reform that was delayed by Muldoon and eventually became Rogernomics, albeit in a more planned manner and slower pace.
Leader of the Opposition