Opposition

Prebble was originally a member of the Labour Party and in 1965 he became chairman of the Auckland Central Electorate Committee. At the 1969 and 1972 elections he was a campaign organiser for Auckland Central MP Norman Douglas. When Douglas announced his retirement Prebble was selected, aged 27, to replace him as Labour's candidate in the seat.^[9] He was successful in being elected in the Auckland Central electorate at the 1975 election.^[10]

Soon after his election, owing mainly to Labour's drastic reduction in MPs in their 1975 defeat, he was made Labour's spokesman for race relations and the environment.^[11] Following the 1978 election he was given the more prominent portfolio of justice by Labour leader Bill Rowling.^[12] From 1978 until 1980 he was additionally the Labour Party's junior whip.^[13] In 1979 Rowling decided to create a separate shadow cabinet above the caucus. 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. As a result, he refused to join the shadow cabinet to protest his allocation of portfolios he did not want. Colleagues described the move as petulant, with Prebble countering by saying "The difference in opposition to being in a shadow cabinet and being a backbencher is only in name. It's a shadow rather than a substance."^[14] He resigned as junior whip as well and returned to the backbench until March 1981 when he rejoined the shadow cabinet as Shadow Minister for Social Welfare and Pacific Island Affairs.^[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. He was taken to Dannevirke Hospital and was treated for a concussion and broken pelvis.^[16]

Owed to his legal background Prebble became quickly known for his "tough, aggressive, non-compromising debating style."^[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. 'Always at it' said Sir Rob, 'Always a bother to us. Even if some thought he was mad the way he carried on, we never knew what he was going to come up with next.'"^[17]

Government

When the Fourth Labour Government was formed, after the 1984 election, Prebble was elected to the cabinet and was appointed Minister of Transport, Minister of Civil Aviation and Meteorological Services, Minister of Railways and Minister of Pacific Island Affairs.^[18] He pressed for a Pacific affairs ministerial portfolio to be established, having an interest in the experiences of Pacific Island New Zealanders due to his time working in Fiji and the large concentration of Pacific Islanders living in his Auckland Central constituency.^[5]

During the government Prebble aligned himself with Roger Douglas, the controversial Minister of Finance, and was an associate finance minister. 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. The "Rogernomics" reforms, which were based on free market economic theory, were unpopular with many traditional Labour supporters. 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. While being interviewed by a television reporter he was hit, mid-sentence, by an egg thrown from the crowd. The egg was thrown by Christopher Owen-Cooper, a former serviceman who served in both World War II and the Korean War, who faced a disorderly behaviour charge. Owen-Cooper was quoted by The Dominion newspaper as saying "We've all built up frustration, we're sick of what the Government's doing. They [politicians] can't give us any answers so it was time someone gave them the hurry along." He was discharged but paid $50 in costs.^[20]

Prebble held more portfolios than any other minister in the government as his post of Minister for State Owned Enterprises absorbed almost all the portfolios of government owned operations and assets which were scheduled to be privatised (much to the opposition of the public). As such Prebble became grossly overworked and colleagues noticed he paid little attention to his appearance with unkempt hair and ragged suits.^[21] Other ministers also felt his portfolio took up too much time in cabinet meetings. Lange, in tune with the public mood, was opposed to public asset sales and impeded Prebble's efforts in selling them. 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 dictatorial and was in no state to be making decisions.^[23] Prebble commented: "He [Lange] said the matter had been eating and gnawing at him and was killing him. I said I didn't think this was a proper basis for making policy. Mr Lange said in that case I should resign."^[24] The comments on television by Prebble lead to his dismissal from cabinet altogether the following day. Lange stated at a press conference that Prebble had misrepresented the detail and nature of a private conversation between the two.^[22]

Prebble returned to the backbenches afterwards. In August 1989 he put himself forward to fill one of two vacant seats in cabinet, but lost a caucus ballot to Annette King.^[25] When Lange's replacement as Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer held a complete re-election of cabinet in January 1990 Prebble was elected and returned to the frontbench and cabinet. Palmer gave him the SOE portfolio once again and later appointed him Minister of Police as well.^[26]

1990 and 1993 elections

Prebble retained his Auckland Central seat in the 1990 election. In opposition he was appointed Shadow Minister of State Owned Enterprises, Works, Police and Pacific Island Affairs.^[27] In the 1993 election, Prebble lost his seat to Sandra Lee, deputy leader of the new left-wing Alliance party.

In the 1995 New Year Honours, Prebble was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for public services.^[28]

After leaving parliament Prebble worked making consultancy deals and moved to Vietnam tendering to build New Zealand's first embassy there. In 1996 he also secured a joint-venture deal to restructure Vietnam's railway system (which was still using steam engines).^[4] He also joined Auckland businessman Malcolm McConnell to create the company McConnell International.^[29]

ACT New Zealand

New Zealand switched to the mixed-member proportional (MMP) representation electoral system in 1993. Roger Douglas established the ACT New Zealand party, and was joined by Prebble. 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.^[29] However, in March 1996, Douglas stepped down as the new party's leader, and Prebble took over beating former Federated Farmers president Owen Jennings for the party leadership.^[4]

Retirement

Prebble was replaced as ACT leader by Rodney Hide in 2004, and did not stand in the 2005 election.^{[citation needed]}

Prebble's book, Out of the Red, was released on 23 October 2006.^{[citation needed]}

He became campaign manager for ACT leading up to the 2014 election with his stated aim to bring 9 ACT MP's into Parliament; this did not eventuate however as ACT did not gain any new seats, only retaining Epsom.^[31]

Prebble now lives in Rotorua^[32] and he is a columnist with The New Zealand Herald.^[33]