In 1948, he moved with his parents and older brothers John and Tom Prebble when his father became vicar of Northcote parish in Auckland.

[1] [2] His father was an Anglo-Catholic Anglican priest, and a leader in the Charismatic Renewal as archdeacon at St. Pauls, on retirement he and Mary were received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Prebble was given a seat in the shadow cabinet, but was displeased at the change in portfolio allocations in which he lost justice and was instead given immigration, regional development and the environment.

[15] On 2 September 1983, Prebble was injured in a head-on car collision whilst he was returning to Wellington after addressing the Taxi Proprietors' Association conference.

"[5] From 1975 to 1984, Labour was in opposition, and Ross Meurant recalled that "Sir Rob has often said that when he was in government, the most irritating and damaging of his opponents was Richard Prebble.

Douglas, Prebble and David Caygill were together dubbed "the Treasury Troika",[19] and were responsible for most of the economic reform undertaken by the Labour government.

In August 1988, Prebble spoke at a public meeting in Sydenham and was greeted with jeering crowds of Labour supporters who were angry with the reforms and their consequent unemployment.

As such, Prebble became grossly overworked and colleagues noticed he paid little attention to his appearance with unkempt hair and ragged suits.

The disagreement became a very public falling-out when Lange stripped him of the State Owned Enterprises (SOE) portfolio on 4 November 1988.

[22] Prebble publicly counterattacked in a television interview that night saying that Lange was acting dictatorially and was in no state to be making decisions.

In August 1989, he put himself forward to fill one of two vacant seats in cabinet, but lost a caucus ballot to Annette King.

In opposition he was appointed Shadow Minister of State Owned Enterprises, Works, Police and Pacific Island Affairs.

[28] After leaving parliament Prebble worked making consultancy deals and moved to Vietnam tendering to build New Zealand's first embassy there.

Initially he did not take an active role in the party and, though frequently invited to speak at ACT functions, he stated in July 1995 that he had no intention of standing for parliament again.

Prebble lost his Wellington Central seat in the 1999 election, but remained in Parliament as a list MP and leader of ACT.

[32] Labour Member of Parliament Willie Jackson opposed Prebble's appointment, citing his alignment with the ACT Party's policies towards Māori including the controversial Treaty Principles Bill.