[4][5] She later worked as an organiser and trainer for the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and was president of Australian Young Labor in 2000.

[8] In November 2006 Rishworth was preselected unopposed to contest the key marginal seat of Kingston, located in the south of Adelaide, at the 2007 federal election.

She was up against the sitting Coalition member Kym Richardson who held the most marginal seat for his party after winning it at the 2004 federal election by just 119 votes.

"[2]Rishworth's work in the parliament included being a member of the health and ageing, communications as well as the industry, science and innovation committees.

[17] In February 2010, Rishworth again introduced a private member's bill into parliament, this time calling for a new code of conduct for the media industry to moderate the rapid growth of sexualisation in video clips, magazines, clothes and the internet.

During the campaign, Rishworth focussed on her record with construction underway on the GP super clinic as well as securing funds for an extension of the Noarlunga railway line to Seaford.

[19] A poll by The Advertiser showed a 12-point swing to her, with some suggesting this was in part due to new prime minister Julia Gillard having grown up in the Adelaide area.

On 11 March 2011, Rishworth and four other Australian parliamentarians were stuck on a bullet train heading from Kyoto to Tokyo for around five hours because of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Though Labor picked up a two-party swing in all eleven seats, the presence of Nick Xenophon Team candidates in all eleven seats produced, apart from a suppressed major party primary vote, a result where Rishworth was the only major party candidate in the state to pick up a primary vote swing.

Following the ALP's victory at the 2022 election, Rishworth was appointed Minister for Social Services in the Albanese government on 1 June 2022 and included as a member of cabinet.