Freer stood unsuccessfully in the for the "hopeless" (for Labour) electorate. He was then asked to stand for the electorate in a by-election, which he won. Freer was only 26 In March 1959 Freer was quoted in the tabloid newspaper
New Zealand Truth as having stated "See Phil, and Phil will fix it" to Henry Judd, an émigré importer, insinuating Freer was informing Judd that the Minister of Industries and Commerce
Phil Holloway (who was in charge of import controls) could grant him an ease-of-passage remedy for controlled imports. The incident became a libel case (
Truth (NZ) Ltd v Holloway) in which Holloway was awarded
NZ£11,000 in damages and a further NZ£800 in costs.
1960s Freer, alongside
Bill Fox and
Mick Moohan, was one of the few senior Labour MPs who helped propel
Norman Kirk to Labour's leadership by ensuring he had the numbers to successfully challenge Nordmeyer in 1965. From then on he became a close confidant of Kirk. As a reward he was promoted to the frontbench as Shadow Minister of Industries and Commerce and Shadow Minister of Customs.
1970s He was a cabinet minister in the
Third Labour Government of 1972–1975, holding the portfolios of
Trade and Industry and
Minister of Energy Resources. He was ranked third in cabinet and served as acting Prime Minister three times, and was "appalled" by the amount of paper Kirk was given to read, with "international secrets" that he could read in that week's
Time. On the first occasion, Kirk congratulated him that there were no industrial disputes and that he had not gone to war against anyone. As Minister of Energy Resources he held negotiations with the private sector over the development of the
Maui gas field (a
natural gas condensate and oil field) which was the largest single infrastructure undertaking in New Zealand's history. In 1974 he instituted a Maximum Retail Price (MRP) scheme as part of the governments attempts to control price increases. The MRP scheme, which prescribed maximum prices for retail goods, was not successful as it was highly bureaucratic and easily evaded by retailers. Despite its lack of success Freer proposed reviving the scheme in 1975 despite the public view that it was ineffective. He stood as a candidate for the deputy leadership of the New Zealand Labour Party in
1974 after Kirk's death only to prevent
Arthur Faulkner winning on the first ballot, hoping that either
Bob Tizard or
Colin Moyle would win the subsequent ballot(s). He lost on the third ballot. Initially he had no intention of standing, and preferred Tizard (who won). In 1975 the government passed the Commerce Act that consolidated the laws on commercial competition, price controls, monopolies and takeovers. After Labour were defeated in , Freer retained the Trade and Industry portfolio in opposition. From 1977 to 1978 he was additionally Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs and Overseas Trade. Following Labour's 1978 defeat Freer became Shadow Minister of Regional Development and Tourism until December 1979 when, impending retirement, he opted not to stand for re-election to the Shadow Cabinet. Freer was replaced in the safe Mount Albert seat by
Helen Clark who beat six other contenders including electorate chairman Keith Elliot, former MP
Malcolm Douglas and future MP
Jack Elder for the nomination. Freer's preferred successor was Elliot. ==Later life and death==