Hughes was at the first meeting of the Socialist Forum in 1984 and later served in its leadership until the forum dissolved in the early 1990s; the forum provided a space for people on the left to discuss issues outside of existing political parties. The forum was later discussed and misrepresented[by whom?] in Australian politics when Julia Gillard, another member, became prime minister.\n', '

He supported Mark Latham\'s articulation of the Third Way in Australia which advocated community engagement and social regeneration rather than market based or top down State interventions.\n', '

In 2006, he founded, and was president of, the People Power Party, a reform party that sought to give ordinary people a voice in politics. In January 2007 he was defeated for the party presidency after in-fighting with fellow member Stephen Mayne, and resigned from the party. By August he was running as the Democratic Labor Party candidate in a by-election for the state seat of Williamstown. 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.\n', '

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