 In 2010 he led a group of Legislative Council candidates for the unregistered Parents Families and Carers Party.In the 2014 Victorian state election, he convened a team of candidates in Melbourne's western suburbs as Voice for the West.From 2007 he was Director of the Centre for Civil Society, which became Civil Society Australia in 2016.Director In 2018 he convened The Sensible Centre 

Hughes has written on many social, political and theological topics for publications and organisations that span the political spectrum.