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.

Rowling's father was friends with many prominent Labour Party politicians including Michael Joseph Savage, Peter Fraser, Paddy Webb and Bob Semple.

After completing his education, Rowling taught at several schools around the country, including at Motueka, Christchurch, Waverley and in Northland.

[2] In 1958, Rowling left teaching and joined the New Zealand Army for four years eventually gaining the rank of captain.

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.

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".

[10] 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.

[1] The government had spent large fulfilling its election promises and Kirk was loathe to reduce spending despite the economic conditions worsening.

His deputy, Hugh Watt, took on the role of acting prime minister for several days while the Labour Party caucus chose a new leader.

[17] 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.

[18] Rowling considered the idea of holding a snap election under the guise of seeking a personal mandate for himself as prime minister.

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.

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.

[23] 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.

[1] During the 1975 election campaign, Rowling was attacked by the Opposition led by Robert Muldoon, and was generally characterised as being weak and ineffective.

According to biographer John Henderson, Rowling "...was averse to the public image grooming process − the play-acting side of politics repelled him.

[1] 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.

[27] In 1976 Island Bay MP and party vice-president Gerald O'Brien was charged by police for allegedly indecently inviting two boys back to his motel room for a drink.

[28] This was followed by the 'Moyle Affair', in which Labour MP Colin Moyle was accused by Muldoon of having been 'picked up' by the police the previous year on suspicion of homosexual activities.

[29] A Commission of Inquiry ensued and Moyle eventually resigned from Parliament intending to vindicate himself by winning a by-election for his seat of Mangere.

The Evening Post reporter Mike Nicolaidi stated "He [Rowling] is considered by some to be 'a mouse' in public, but his roar is being increasingly heard within the party machine.

"[31] At the 1978 election Rowling led a strong campaign which saw a huge turnaround in Labour's fortunes, actually winning more votes than National.

[36] Labour suffered ructions after Shadow Minister of Transport and Communications Roger Douglas released an "Alternative Budget" against Rowling's wishes.

The proposals were not official Labour policy and their publication was seen by Rowling as a challenge to his authority and Douglas was sacked from the shadow cabinet on 30 June 1980.

In February 1982 Rowling gave a speech at a Labour regional conference in Timaru where he suggested Labour should sever formal links with trade unions, citing the party's public perception being too closely associated with unions and that there had been a large demographic shift in members from the working class to middle-class liberals.

Anderton publicly disagreed with Rowling stating that the SUP had no influence in the Labour Party and that "The entire membership of the SUP could be written on the back of a postage stamp.

He held that position when the issue of nuclear weapons and ANZUS flared up between the United States and New Zealand, and he travelled extensively across the country explaining the policy.

He felt the caucus made a significant error in re-electing Douglas (who had been a thorn in Rowling's side years earlier) to cabinet which caused Lange to quit.

[2] He also played a prominent role at the Museum of New Zealand, and is considered to have been the "driving force" behind the eventual establishment of Te Papa despite drastic public spending cutbacks.

[49] He was conferred an honorary law doctorate by the University of Canterbury in 1987,[50] and he was honoured by the Netherlands as a Commander in the Orde van Oranje-Nassau.