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. Hunter served as chair of the Social Development Committee's inquiry into Bogus, Unregistered and Deregistered Health Practitioners. The Committee produced a report recommending substantial regulation of currently unregistered health practitioners, a public awareness campaign, and strict rules on the display of legitimate health qualifications. In September 2010 Hunter gave a speech in parliament criticising the practice of
homeopathy for failing to meet the standards of
peer reviewed scientific research, and called for
Nicola Roxon, the Federal Minister for Health, to immediately review all taxpayer funding of homeopathy. He has been the subject of three separate successful
upper house no confidence motions, moved by the
Liberal opposition and supported by the
crossbench. Hunter was appointed to the
Weatherill Ministry cabinet in October 2011 and served in a range of ministerial portfolios until the
2018 state election including communities and social inclusion, social housing, disabilities, youth, volunteers (2011 to 2013), sustainability, environment and conservation, water and the
River Murray and climate change (2013 to 2018), and aboriginal affairs (between 2013 and 2015).
LGBT advocacy Hunter is the
first openly-LGBTI member in the Parliament of South Australia, as well as Cabinet, as well as the first to marry while in parliament and the second same-sex married politician in Australia, and is noted for his public advocacy for
LGBTQ issues, which at times has conflicted with aspects of Labor policy. Hunter and his partner of 20 years, Leith Semmens chose to travel to Spain
to marry as Australian law did not recognise same-sex marriage at the time. In June 2008 Hunter introduced a number of amendments to the Statutes Amendment (Surrogacy) Bill, including removing the term "marriage-like relationship" in order to remove discrimination against same-sex couples. The amendment would effectively give same-sex couples the legal right to access
gestational surrogacy. Following an email campaign by
Family First MLCs
Andrew Evans and
Dennis Hood the proposed amendment was defeated, and the Bill was referred back to the
House of Assembly in its original form. On 16 June 2009 Hunter delivered a speech to parliament calling for
same-sex marriage in Australia and criticising Prime Minister
Kevin Rudd for supporting the current definition of marriage as "between a man and a woman". His speech gained national media attention, Hunter co-sponsored the 2011 Marriage Equality Bill with
Greens MLC
Tammy Franks also supported by the
Australian Marriage Equality under its then national convenor
Alex Greenwich who became the first same-sex married parliamentarian in Australia and the NSW Legislative Assembly. If passed it would be the first piece of legislation in Australia to grant same-sex couples equal marriage rights. The legislation is based on formal constitutional advice from
Professor George Williams that, while Federal
marriage law prohibits same-sex marriage, the states may be able to introduce their own legislation without being rendered invalid by
Section 109 of the Australian Constitution. Hunter's second reading speech on the bill once again drew media attention after he labelled the current Labor policy on marriage "
morally bankrupt" and "a house of cards that cannot stand long", comparing it with the party's past support for the
White Australia Policy. In February 2011 the South Australian state division of the
Liberal Party announced that it would vote against the Marriage Equality Bill in the Legislative Council, declaring a view that marriage was beyond the legislative jurisdiction of the South Australian Parliament and the view that legislation could be struck down by the
High Court of Australia. Liberal leader
Isobel Redmond later declared her support for
marriage equality, following
Mike Rann's declaration of support in the final weeks of his Premiership. In May 2011 the multi-party Social Development Committee, which Hunter chairs, delivered the findings of its Inquiry into
same-sex parenting to parliament. The recommendations of the committee included the introduction of
adoption rights for same-sex couples, access to altruistic gestational surrogacy, legal parenting rights for non-birth mothers borne to gestational surrogates, access to reproductive technology for lesbian and single women, and a public awareness campaign on the rights of same-sex parents. ==Personal life==