Through Muldoon's ideological blend of moderate social liberalism and protectionist right-wing populism ("counterpunching", a term he coined)[4] and the promise of a lucrative superannuation scheme, National enjoyed a resurgence.

The early death of prime minister Norman Kirk severely weakened the Labour Party, and Muldoon soon led National to a decisive victory in the 1975 general election.

To engage with crime, Muldoon built "unusually close relationships" with criminal gangs; he personally favoured Black Power, and he and his wife Thea met with them on several occasions.

Marshall resigned after longtime colleague George Gair told him he stood no chance in a leadership vote, and Muldoon was elected unopposed as Leader of the Opposition on 9 July 1974.

"[42] Economics correspondent Brian Gaynor has claimed that Muldoon's policy of reversing Labour's saving scheme cost him a chance to transform the New Zealand economy.

In his first term (1975–1978) Muldoon focused on reducing expenditure, but struggled with the growing cost of his own superannuation scheme,[30] partly due to the many tax rebates and exemptions he passed for lower income earners.

[38] Robert Muldoon continued his Labour predecessor Prime Minister Norman Kirk's policy of arresting and deporting Pacific Islander overstayers which had begun in 1974.

[47] Since the 1950s, the New Zealand government had encouraged substantial emigration from several Pacific countries including Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji to fill a labour shortage caused by the post–war economic boom.

[51] Muldoon, in Parliament, accused opposition MP and former Cabinet minister Colin Moyle in November 1976 of having been questioned by the police on suspicion of homosexual activities a year earlier.

Both opponents and supporters of Muldoon's government claimed that it was a political appointment; a number of National MPs, including his deputy, disagreed with the precedent of having a politician as Governor-General.

[60] The Leader of the Opposition, Bill Rowling complained that he had not been consulted on the appointment, and then stated that he would act to remove Holyoake as Governor-General should the Labour Party win the 1978 general election.

[65] The boat and caravan levies, in particular, crippled both industries, as potential buyers could not afford the 20% tax on top of the construction costs, resulting in additional unemployment as workers were laid off.

In various speeches and press releases, he would accuse the SUP and other Communist groups of instigating strikes and organising protests against US naval visits and New Zealand's sporting contacts with South Africa.

Professing a belief that politics should not interfere with sport, Muldoon resisted pressure to bar the 1981 tour by the Springboks, the national rugby union squad of apartheid-era South Africa.

By allowing "the Tour", Muldoon was accused of breaking the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement (to form a common policy on sporting with South Africa amongst the Commonwealth, signed after the boycott of the Montreal Olympics in 1976).

[85] As a result of increased oil prices, a decline in New Zealand's terms of trade, and less than expected returns from the Think Big projects, Muldoon was forced to borrow more money.

[100][98] It is a strong convention in New Zealand politics that a prime minister does not ask for an early election unless he or she cannot govern, or unless they need to seek the electorate's endorsement on a matter of national importance (as was the case in 1951).

Indeed, it was obvious that Muldoon was finding it hard to pass financial measures with neo-liberal rebels like Ruth Richardson and Derek Quigley voting against the Government on certain issues.

[95] Even when negotiating and agreeing to Closer Economic Relations (CER), the most sweeping free trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand ever signed up to that point, Muldoon and Fraser refused to engage directly.

According to future Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer, then a political aide, Fraser snapped and physically lost his temper during a late night policy meeting.

Muldoon ignored the advice, owing to his belief that it would hurt poor New Zealanders in the medium term, and in June 1984 announced the snap election mentioned above which, as predicted, caused an immediate run on the dollar.

The newly elected neo-liberal and unexpectedly pro-free market Fourth Labour Government embarked on a series of fundamental free-market reforms known (after Labour's finance minister Roger Douglas) as Rogernomics, and which were then continued from 1990–94 by the succeeding National government's policies known as (after National's finance minister Ruth Richardson) as Ruthanasia, which marked a fundamental break with the more interventionist policies of Muldoon's era.

He lived through the Fourth Labour Government's neo-liberal reforms, known as "Rogernomics", and to his dismay – to see his own man, Bolger, take up the same baton after winning the landslide election of 1990 in the form of "Ruthanasia", named after Finance Minister Ruth Richardson.

His biographer, Barry Gustafson, who described himself as not a Muldoon supporter, wrote that he still served as an active MP for his Tamaki electorate, dealing immediately with matters from all walks of life.

He continued to write in international economic journals,[citation needed] arguing that the unemployment that had arisen as a result of the free market reforms was worse than the gains that were made, a view that came to be popular by the time of the Fifth Labour Government in 1999.

Alienated from National and disenchanted with government's new neoliberal economic policies (dubbed "Ruthanasia" after Minister of Finance Ruth Richardson),[114] Muldoon announced his resignation to the party caucus on 10 November 1991.

[126][127] Former Cabinet Minister Hugh Templeton argued Muldoon's lack of "strategic vision" denied New Zealand a careful, measured economic restructuring that paved the way for Rogernomics.

[128] Muldoon enjoyed engaging positively with criminal gangs such as Black Power,[citation needed] and made uncouth public statements that emphasised "blokeiness".

[130][131][132] Muldoon's shunning of intellectualism in favour of intimidating, raging against so-called "elites", and blatant, manipulative populism has led him to be called a forerunner to the likes of Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson and Silvio Berlusconi.

[133][2][12] Both Muldoon and Trump pursued populist protectionist methods aimed at creating both full employment and self-sufficiency and promoted anti-immigration policies, while demonstrating aggressive and tactless personal behaviour.