page_title: Bill Rowling
section_title: Prime Minister
hierarchical_section_title: Bill Rowling / Member of Parliament / Prime Minister
caption_attribution_description: English: Gerald Ford in discussion with Bill Rowling, on his visit to the White House in 1975.
context_page_description: Sir Wallace Edward Rowling KCMG PC, commonly known as Bill Rowling, was a New Zealand politician who was the 30th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1974 to 1975. He held office as the parliamentary leader of the Labour Party.
  Rowling was a lecturer in economics when he entered politics; he became a Member of Parliament in the 1962 Buller by-election. He was serving as Minister of Finance 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.
context_section_description: When Norman Kirk died unexpectedly in 1974, Hugh Watt, his deputy, served as acting prime minister for several days while the Labour Party caucus chose a new leader. Rowling was the front-runner to replace Kirk. However, the party's National Executive and the Federation of Labour preferred Watt.
  Rowling was officially confirmed as party leader and 30th Prime Minister on 6 September 1974. In the cabinet reshuffle following Kirk's death, Rowling took the foreign affairs portfolio. He was appointed to the Privy Council. 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 Premier. However he was dissuaded from doing so to avoid looking opportunistic and due to Labour having trouble fundraising.
  Unlike the pro-life Kirk, Rowling was pro-choice. In 1974, he set up a commission to inquire into 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, the Labour 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%.
caption: Rowling with US President Gerald Ford in 1975
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