 Hunter was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council at the 2006 state election at fourth position on the Labor ticket, and at the 2014 state election he was re-elected at second position on the Labor ticket.He used his maiden speech to outline his commitment to social justice issues and education as a force for progressive change, and attacked the push for the teaching of Intelligent Design as "fundamentalist dogma dressed up as science".He also reflected on his political life in the Australian Labor Party, recalling his step-father's advice that "Labor stood for the working people and the Liberals stood for the rich", and saying, "in all my years since then I have not seen anything to refute his approach to politics".