In the Fourth Labour Government he was elected to the cabinet, due to being one of the few MPs with previous ministerial experience. Initially he held the roles of Minister of Energy, Minister of Statistics and Minister of Science and Technology during the governments first term from 1984 to 1987. After attaining cabinet rank again he found himself amongst colleagues belonging to a younger generation of thought different from his own leading him to once again be blocked from an economic portfolio. He turned his attention instead to safeguarding his portfolios from the privatisation agenda of finance minister Roger Douglas and his backers (the "Rogernomes"), fighting against energy corporatisation wherever he could. He was confronted with nearly all of the country's energy resources having been committed to the Think Big policies of the previous government which hampered his plans to convert New Zealand vehicles to alternative fuels. He suspended use of the controversial National Development Act and assisted with being rescinded with the National Development Act Repeal Act. Likewise he decided to reinstate control over the construction of hydo-electric dams to the Ministry of Works and Development. Due to his refusal to sell Petrocorp he was removed from the energy portfolio at the end of the term.