Austeen served as a member of
Sem municipal council from 1904 to 1907. He was then elected to the
Parliament of Norway from the single-member constituency
Sandeherred in
1906 and
1909. In 1909, Austeen had joined the new Liberal Left Party and ran on a joint ticket of the
Conservative and Liberal Left parties, though his running mate Gullik Nilssen-Kamfjord also belonged to the Liberal Left Party. Again, they carried their constituency in the first round. Austeen was a member of the Standing Committee on Justice in his first term and the Standing Committee on Agriculture in his second term. ==References==